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Waves roll into the northern shore of Dakar, the capital and largest city of Senegal. Roughly 1 million people live in the city proper and another 1.4 million inhabit its greater metropolitan area. Situated on the Cap-Vert (Cape Verde) Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, Dakar is the westernmost city on the African mainland.

See more here: https://bit.ly/39OheJr

14.767126°, -17.434242°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Sand dunes cover the landscape at Sossusvlei — a salt and clay pan located on the edge of the Namib Desert in Namibia. The dunes here are some of the tallest in the world, rising more than 656 feet (200 meters) in height.

See more here: https://bit.ly/2TntoWT

-24.733333°, 15.366667°

Source imagery: Planet

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The Tangalooma Wrecks is a shipwreck site on the western side of Moreton Island in South East Queensland, Australia. It consists of 15 vessels that were deliberately sunk in 1963 to form a breakwall for small boats. In addition to providing safe harbor, the wrecks also created a popular dive and snorkel site, attracting a variety of marine life such as wobbegongs, trevally, yellowtail, and other tropical fish.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3w5OVAw

-27.162833°, 153.368361°

Source imagery: Nearmap

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Cheshire Architects have designed an occasional home for a couple nestled amidst the breath-taking backdrop of Awaawaroa Bay in New Zealand. Three small volumes, resembling more of an encampment than a home, are clustered around a sun drenched courtyard that acts in turn as an extension of the shared living space, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside.

Designed for a client who “fell in love with this south-facing site and the idea of occupying it without formality and off-grid” the unconventional composition features a tall church-like pavilion clad with a steel roof that protects its delicate timber interior and two sheds wrapped in canvas. Each separate zone houses a different function while the courtyard surrounding them acts as an extension of the domestic interior.

Related: Eyrie Houses in Kaiwaka, New Zealand by Cheshire Architects.

Lined with fragrant old timber the chapel-like living room denotes itself as the clear gathering space with its central gabled roof structure. A perfect space for two or twenty (not to mention a couple of dogs), its interior is warm and inviting.

The materiality is intuitive and earthy with a sofa carved from the room itself. An outdoor bench blurs the kitchen and courtyard into one. The architects hope to celebrate the difference between inside and outside – and the reinforcing, occupying, and eroding of the threshold between those states through these functional details.

Related: Stories on Design // Outdoor Rooms.

Creaking gently like yachts in the wind, the cloaked sheds act as sleeping pods, lined inside with timber and window frames big enough to shower those inside with an abundance of natural light in the morning and throughout the day. A bunk room that feels intimate but sleeps ten has space for everyone to get their own nook.

The interior is simultaneously generously spaced and appropriately intimate no matter how many people are inside. Conceived carefully, built simply and dressed informally, this home makes a convincing case for slow living.

| The article Encampment-like Home: Awaawaroa Bay House by Cheshire Architects. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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A strip of farmland is surrounded by desert near Kayyam, United Arab Emirates, roughly 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Abu Dhabi. This area is part of the Liwa Oasis, a date-palm cultivating region at the edge of the Rub’ al Khali desert. Since the UAE averages 12 days of rain a year and contains less than 1% arable land, there is widespread use of drip irrigation and greenhouses in this area.

See more here: https://bit.ly/2SHqUCi

23.255361°, 53.801306°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Inspired by their client’s trip to Hans Scharoun’s Schminke House in Germany, Moscow practice Room Design Büro fills some very big shoes, capturing the modernist icon’s sense and spirit all within a tiny 27 square metre apartment.

Using photos of the Schminke House as a basis for the project and integrating influences from Bauhaus, Modernism and Russian constructivist architecture, Büro has paired practicality with playfulness to form a comfortable home for one.

No strangers to working within such a small footprint, the layout is simple and functional. A full size bathroom, fully functional kitchen, nook bed, hidden desk and cosy leisure space all sit in agreeable harmony. Arranged across two different floor heights, it pragmatically separates the recreation areas from the utility rooms while cosmetically adding low window sills, a look the client loves.

Built-in furniture and flooring in stained timber became a focal point of the interior, an arresting expression of Soviet architecture that the designers sought to separate from any negative connotations. As they elaborate “our goal was to prove that design exists independently from the time and challenges of that period. Once you abstract away from negative associations, you can purely enjoy Soviet architecture, design, philosophy and even domestic life.”

The aesthetics are rigorous and rational, an exposed wall on the window side along with a structural column remain untouched, a nod to the beauty of Russian constructivism while the furniture is staunchly modernist in form. Classics like the Philippe Starck lemon squeezer came from the clients’ personal collection while most furniture pieces were sourced from marketplace websites and Instagram pages – the modern day thrift.

Notably, the black leather armchair, discovered on a vintage store on Instagram from an unknown manufacturer, ties the whole space together.

As Büro stated – “We all liked it, and it’s terrific how well it integrated into our design space. After it arrived, we felt like a crystal ashtray and the smell of tobacco are the only things that are missing. It appears that we created an interior 18+.”

Age restrictions aside, this tiny apartment is utilitarian and a bit sexy, proving that big isn’t always best.

Related: So Hot Right Now // Living Large in Small Spaces.

| The article Commune 303: Tiny Moscow Apartment by Room Design Büro. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Vancouver, along with much of the south coast of British Columbia, Canada, has also been caught in the “heat dome” scorching the Pacific Northwest over the past few days. The city of more than 630,000 saw temperatures far above average this past weekend, and Lytton, a small town northeast of Vancouver, broke a national heat record Monday with a high of 118°F (47.7°). The heat wave is expected to subside tomorrow.

49.250000°, -123.100000°

Source imagery: Planet

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Avant-garde, scandalous and downright cheeky, this refurbished apartment in Milan by design studio Puntofilipino is a charming antidote to the familiar, threading a seamless narrative between now, then and in between into a design that feels singularly radical.

“In order to bridge the aesthetic dichotomy between period interiors and contemporary expanse, the apartment stands out as a whimsical rebuke to the minimalist aesthetic and elegant austerity of mid-century modernism,” explains Puntofilipino.

Aptly named Memphis Milano, the interior marries period stylings with the Memphis Group – notorious colour cowboys of the 1980’s – playful sensibilities. The original structure is conserved while classic motifs and materials are reinterpreted in a postmodern context.

“Characterized by an eclectic sequence of colours, stretching from the walls to the metal joinery and plaster cornices, the carpets and curtains [are paired] to a harmonious selection of furniture, inspired by the Art Deco and Pop Art movements of the Memphis Group, not only for its striking primary colours, synthetic materials such as laminate and terrazzo, and crazy geometry, but also for its iconoclastic cheekiness,” explain the designers.

Designed for a couple of art professionals, the heart of the space lies in its walls. Taking the opportunity to experiment, Puntofilipino dipped the living room and kitchen in blue and white swirled marble, while a fluted terracotta trim connects it to the above contrasting bright red bricks. A nature-inspired fresco in the dining room is a dreamlike addition, seemingly lifting off the walls (and over the cornice). All over wallpapers, bucolic patterns, marble tiles and optical prints adorn more walls as a true sense of this contemporary decadence washes over the space.

The classic arched openings are given a Memphis edge doused in the same blue and white swirled marble as the walls. With the design and decor suitably classic, vibrantly geometric modernist furniture and soft rounded upholstery offset the volume’s strict silhouette and subdued palette of greys, blues and brick red.

Proving there is no divide too wide, Puntofilipino has found common ground between period interiors and the Memphis Group in a design that has left no wall untreated.

Related: Stories On Design // Illustrated Interiors.

| The article Avant-garde & Cheeky: Memphis Milano Apartment by Puntofilipino. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon have both broken all-time temperature records this week amid a “once-in-a-millennium” heat wave across the Pacific Northwest. A “heat dome” like this occurs when the atmosphere traps hot ocean air above land, and this particular event has been exacerbated by higher than usual baseline temperatures due to climate change. The high temperature in Seattle yesterday was 104°F (40°C) and Portland’s high spiked at 114 (44°C).

Source imagery: Nearmap

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Earthtech/, the latest collection from Florim, is an homage to ancient times with sights firmly set on a responsible future. Through the latest technology, Earthtech/ gives rise to a new expression and unparalleled resistance to one of the oldest building elements – the earth.

A technical product with a tactile quality, Earthtech/ gets the name from its multi-faceted nature – “earth” representing a timeless material and a nod to the planet we need to honour and protect, and “tech” for innovation as a synonym of high performance.

Drawing on Florim’s extensive architectural expertise, Earthtech/ transforms raw material into “technical earth”. The result is a robust composite ceramic with colour and graphic pattern permeating the design – the product maintains its aesthetic expression through the entire thickness of the slab, making it unalterable even in the event of a deep abrasion to the surface.

Earthtech/ by Florim combines a nod to the past with an approach geared towards the future. The collection balances the requirements of aesthetics and beauty with high-performance, safety and hygiene while following the highest sustainability standards.

The slabs are created by spontaneously mixing the selected fragments and pigments in various shades. The tiny flakes form a mélange effect that vitrifies during the firing process, resulting in an exceptionally robust and solid composite material.

Related: “Sensi of Casa dolce casa” Collection by Matteo Thun for Florim Ceramiche.

With a modern, minimalist style, this collection embraces architecture in symbiosis with the landscape through neutral colours that are easy to combine, presented in two aesthetic families with larger and smaller flakes.

The colour options range from various shades of greys to the boldest tones of bright yellow and red-orange. The collection offers multiple finishes for various applications – from public and commercial spaces to residential projects, creating a dialogue between indoor and outdoor settings.

For more information on Earthtech/ visit florim.com/earthtech.

Inspired by an innate passion for beauty and design, Florim has been producing porcelain surfaces for almost 60 years. Headed by Claudio Lucchese, son of the founder Giovanni Lucchese, the company has a past firmly rooted in the ceramics district at Sassuolo (Modena) and a present as an international industry trendsetter. For more information, visit florim.com.

| The article Earth & Technology Combine to Sustainably Build the Cities of the Future: Florim Presents Earthtech/. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |