Hasta La Ideas

For a holiday spent taking in Barcelona’s seamless blend of old and new architecture, food and sounds, the sublime Chic and Basic Hotel couldn’t be more well-suited. Located in the trendy Born area, it’s an ideal jumping-off spot for wandering the many narrow, meandering streets of the city’s neighboring areas. But it’s the hotel itself that symbolizes so much of what we consider Barcelona to be about.

Housed in a century-old building, with 22 foot-high ceilings, a crystal shower at the center of each room and a sophisticated lighting system that transforms the appearance of rooms according to mood, the Chic and Basic features the kind of thoughtful design that makes the interior both functional and an adventure. The look and feel come courtesy of architect and designer Xavier Claramunt, who made wandering down the corridors to the rooms an sensory experience.

His ultra-modern and unconventionally-styled rooms go for high-impact with details like shimmering walls of beads that visually divide the stark white walls. Those same beads dripped mischieviously from the roof in the hallways add a continuous sparkle to the common space.

Hotel Chic and Basic Born

Calle Princesa 50

08003 Barcelona, Spain map

+34 932 954 652

You can make a booking via their website, rates are around 70 euro, nightly.

An update on the ongoing battle Apple‘s Steve Jobs has been fighting with the town of Woodside, California for this past decade over a George Washington Smith-designed house he wants to tear down and rebuild on the land (our last report on the war was back in late April). After the last court date back in May where Jobs’ lawyers were once again pleading his case while preservationists were also pleading theirs, a state judge has now called them all back to court come June 23rd, Bloomberg reports, saying that the group, Uphold Our Heritage, has complained that the Jobs camp has yet to fully explain “the benefits of the demolition” and “show that they have researched alternatives.” So it’s back into the fray for the lot of them and we’re guessing, based off prior meetings, that the 23rd won’t be the end of this. Here’s a bit:

Woodside’s town council postponed until June 23 a vote on the demolition because the permit paperwork wasn’t ready, Woodside Town Manager Susan George said in an interview. The town’s lawyers advised the council to vote on the permit regardless of Uphold Our Heritage’s court filing, George said.

Proceeding with the vote and the permit before [San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Marie Weiner] has heard arguments is a “risk,” said a lawyer for Uphold Our Heritage lawyer, Doug Carstens, in an interview. “The proper thing to do is to make sure the judge is satisfied before they think of demolishing anything.”

Dezeen events: Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs moderates the Design Talks at Design Miami/Basel today and tomorrow with designers  Nacho Carbonell, Tomáš Gabzdil Libertiny, Peter Marigold, Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer (Raw-Edges) and Maarten Baas. (more…)

This is a modern lamp, reinterpreting Korean traditional lamps, with the only support on the floor, which maximizes the strain. It can be moved to var..

Paris architects Atelier Martel have completed a house with four gabled facades in the Vosges mountains in France. (more…)