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Inspired by “the indoor and outdoor living houses of Brisbane”, while encapsulating northern light and distributing it evenly among the shared spaces, is the captivating East Fremantle House. Designed by Nic Brunsdon and built by TALO Construction, this 230 square metre family residence is an extension of a heritage Federation House in Western Australia; and a contender for 2021 WA Architecture Awards. Quiet, quaint, and classic at the front, what lies behind is a “lumpy extension” that proves you don’t need a mass build to maximise living spaces.

Conceived through the client’s curiosity of Burnsdon’s North Perth House, this project incorporates a heritage home on a narrow plot (as always) that runs east-west. The clients desired an extension that would align with the architecture’s history and the context of the site.

Related: Marine House in South Fremantle by David Barr Architects.

A consideration to sustainability in the architectural design influenced the extension to be a handle-like form made of geometry that resembles children’s wooden building blocks. The clients, a growing family with two infant children, requested a home that would grow with their lifestyle and potential space for additional relatives.

The original house is gently restored to comprise of three bedrooms before revealing a corridor with kitchen, dining, entertainment lined in a queue that ascends into a staircase leading to an attic sleeping quarter. The new arm cradles a generous garden room (or void) that sits in front of the kitchen accessible via sliding glass panels, beckoning glorious flooding of natural light into central spaces. A second entrance is tastefully introduced through the side of the property, offering personal space for storage, and studying.

The stability in materiality and timelessness in style are the hallmarks of this project. Externally, light nectarine timber and tactile white stucco-clad the extension shell. Internally, a striking colour-blocking palette adorns the interior likening to seasonal changes. A moody curved masonry entrance of the original house transitions into a breezy summery open area made of antique-gold exposed timber ceiling and white rendered brick walls – backlit by concaved and boxy pockets of natural light. The blank canvas is collaged with a niche peppered marble benchtop and polished concrete floors before returning to classic dark stained timber floors. A sculpted concrete sunken lounge at the rear with plush blue carpet offers a picturesque grassy experience of the garden room. The bathroom on the ground is paved with burnt burgundy vertically tiled bathrooms – a moody autumnal ensemble amplified with dramatic lighting reflected from the northern courtyard. The longing for fall is contrasted by the ensuite above with the summer swimming pool to fulfil a light-filled ablution space.

Brunsdon’s eye for quality material and a well-curated arrangement allows for a growing relationship between the architecture and the family members. A level of quiet confidence, although ready to become a canvas for vulnerable sentiments – excitement awaits within the East Fremantle House.

| The article East Fremantle House by Nic Brunsdon. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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In honor of Memorial Day in the United States, we’re sharing this Overview of San Francisco National Cemetery, located in the Presidio of San Francisco, California. More than 30,000 American military veterans and their families are buried here, including Civil War generals, Medal of Honor recipients, Buffalo Soldiers, and a Union spy. Established in 1884, it is the oldest national cemetery on the U.S. West Cost.

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

37.799722°, -122.464444°

Source imagery: Nearmap

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The sublim, tonal Cromatica collection by Formafantasma. “A lexicon of colour shades for mixing in large size and its submultiples.” See our preview of this stunning collection here.

Rilievi collection designed by Enrica Cavarzan & Marco Zavagno of Zaven. “The alternation and symbiosis between concave and convex, recessed and raised.”

Chimera collection by Elena Salmistraro merges rigour with self-expression, in a graphic grammar laden with symbolic meaning. See our in-depth article on this collection here.

As the world grapples with a myriad of monumental issues, like climate emergency, social injustice, the biggest health crisis in over a century and so forth, the role architecture and design can play in creating a better future has never seemed more pertinent. From our approach to creating new budlings and interiors, our attitude to re-establishing existing ones, how and what we chose to specify in our projects all play a part in having an awareness of the world on a deeper level.

Perhaps, just like so many others (myself included), you’ve questioned whom you support and what you champion in all aspects of your life, including your agency in your own domains of influence, however small or large they may be.

With sustainably being, without a doubt, one of the most pressing challenges the world faces today, shining a spotlight on those who are seeking to set new benchmarks and improve the status quo, has become a personal quest and an issue close to my heart. This responsibility becomes all the sweeter when brands in question have an offering that’s seriously appealing too.

Re-edition of the Lapis vase by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, photographed at the Fondazione Castiglioni in Milan.

Cristina Celestino in the studio, working on her Policroma collection for CEDIT, which launched at Salone del Mobile in 2019.

Enter CEDIT. Or, to be precise, CEDIT – Ceramiche d’Italia (Made in Florim), a sub-brand of the much larger parent company Florim. Having been re-launched to the market in 2016, this Italian-in-origin and international-in-spirit brand is renowned for its ground-breaking designs. Conceived as large format ceramic tiles on which artists can express their creativity, CEDIT isn’t interested in the ordinary, but rather seeks to stand out from the aesthetic perspective.

Over the years, the brand has worked with the biggest names in Italian design, including Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Ettore Sottsass, Enzo Mari and Alessandro Mendini, cementing it as a critical contributor in the history of the design universe.

Related: Chimera Ceramic Collection by Elena Salmistraro for CEDIT.

Watch this lovely video with Primarosa, Anna, Ferdinando, Pera & Anna – CEDIT employees who are in their 60s, 70s and 80s – one of them started with the company at the age of 14 and remains there till this day.

A COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Florim’s approach to sustainability intersects with its business strategy, not as an abstract concept but as real actions embracing the three areas of responsibility: economic, social and environmental.

In 2020 Florim became the first ceramic company in the world to become B Corp certified, formally stating its commitment to operating not just for profit, but also for the good of the planet and the community.

Florim is the first, and currently the only, ceramics corporation in the world to become a Benefit Corporation.

Watch the video “Being sustainable is a daily choice” with the faces of some of the Florim people who contribute to making the company even more responsible, every day.

For Florim, being accountable means developing and creating a sustainable product of very high quality. It means a focus on people – both the staff and their families. Not only generating profit to reinvest in the local economy but also providing direct, genuine support to those most in need. Acting responsibly also means protecting the environment through improvements to processes and products to reduce environmental and energy impact.

CEDIT VALUES

CEDIT recently launched a campaign that celebrates its five core principles, cleverly expressed as an acronym of its name – C for Culture, E for Ethics, D for Design, I for Identity, T for Talent – all of which seamlessly overlap with the broader business strategy for Florim.

They go on to talk about these values in more detail. For example, Culture talks to the “Curators of knowledge, cultivated through creative dialogues and exchange of experiences.” Ethic stands for “the responsibility to protect our environment, work together to shape our future.” Design promotes the idea of “investing in research, the most sublime form of knowledge. To be the architects of innovation, protagonists of a process that takes us ever onward.” Identity goes back to 1947 when their legacy began. “Timeless values, and ever-evolving artistry, reveals the unique identity. A living heritage that surrounds us today.” And Talent talks to the “Italian art of making. Through imagination, through passion, through life.”

The amazing Policroma collection by Cristina Celestino celebrates recurring geometries and infinite combinations, an homage to Italy’s famed marble and marmorino plaster finishes.

THE FUTURE

Today, CEDIT continues to promote contemporary creativity in keeping with their great tradition, creating ceramic collections conceived by top Italian designers like Formafantasma, Cristina Celestino, Federico Pepe, Zaven and Elena Salmistraro.

“The culture of beauty, art, architecture and design has always been a part of CEDIT’s DNA,” says Claudio Lucchese, president of Florim and the son of Giovanni Lucchese, who founded the company in 1962.

With sustainability, ethics, high quality and nurturing of talent being just some of the values charting high of their agenda, there are plenty of reasons for CEDIT to go straight to the top of the pile when considering the next statement finish for your project.

For more information on CEDIT and to explore all of their collections visit florim.com/cedit.

Araldica by Federico Pepe is bold, bonkers and not for the faint-hearted. “The miscellany of bright, contrasting, pure colours. The extroverted manifestation of decor.” Boom!

This Yellowtrace Promotion is proudly supported by CEDIT – Made in Florim. Like everything we do, our partner content is carefully curated to maintain the utmost relevance to our readers. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Yellowtrace. 

[Images courtesy of CEDIT – Made in Florim.]

| The article CEDIT’s Unique Design Language Shaped Around Five Core Values. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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“The most important challenges of cooperation might be the most difficult to benchmark; they involve creatively stepping out of our habitual roles to change the ‘game’ itself. Indeed, if we are to take the social nature of intelligence seriously, we need to move from individual objectives to the shared, poorly defined ways humans solve social problems: creating language, norms and institutions.”

- Cooperative AI: machines must learn to find common ground (Via Matt Jones)

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“What’s the future of interaction design?” — Chris Downs

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“We designed tools and frameworks to help us see the world in new ways, but they also changed how we think. We shaped frameworks, and in turn they shaped us. 20th century approaches like design thinking, human-centered design, and jobs to be done too often look at people solely as individuals. Or, worse yet, only as consumers. They don’t consider people in relation to their communities or to wider society. And society itself is ignored by design.”

Society Centered Design

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“What if new technologies could help us embrace nature’s diversity and complexity, instead of simplifying it? If breeders could unlock the genetic diversity of the 30,000 edible plant species that exist worldwide, they might be able to identify plant species and varieties that would be resilient and productive under the pressure of climate change. If growers could understand how each and every plant on their farm is growing and interacting with its environment, they could reduce the use of fertilizer, chemicals, and precious resources like water, and explore sophisticated growing techniques like intercropping and cover cropping that restore soil fertility and increase productivity.”

Project Mineral is using breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, sensors, and robotics to find ways to grow more food, more sustainably

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Chobani’s society centred vision of the future is really something I can get behind. More heartfelt and humane than any inadvertently dystopian vision film created by the big tech companies. Lovely.

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“Ideas by definition are always fragile. If they were resolved, they wouldn’t be ideas. They’d be products ready to ship. I’ve come to learn you have to make an extraordinary effort not to focus on the problems which are implicated with the new idea. These problems are known, they are quantifiable, understood. But you have to focus on the actual idea, which is partial, tentative and unproven. If you don’t actively suspend your disbelief, if you don’t believe there is a solution to the problems, of course you will lose faith in your ideas. That is why criticism and focusing on the problems can be so damaging, particularly in the absence of a constructive idea. Remember, opinions are not ideas, opinions are not as important as ideas, opinions are just…. opinions.”

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