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Home Studios have undertaken their first architectural and interior residential project – a 185 square metre apartment in a landmark building in New York City’s NoHo neighbourhood. Known for their singular and archetypal approach to hospitality design, it’s no surprise their first foray into residential renovations is a devotion to unexpected details.

Founded in 2009 by former book editor Oliver Haselgrave, the studio encompasses people from backgrounds in architecture, interiors, custom fabrication, and fine art. With this unique perspective on design, the team conceived ten new site-specific furniture and lighting pieces collaborating with local long-term fabrication partners in NYC, including an eye-catching copper hood and swing pendant in the kitchen and dining space.

To rework and maximise the open floor plan, Home Studio gut-renovated the entire apartment keeping only a portion of the original maple floors. The result is a cohesive and beautiful three bedroom, two bathroom living space suitable for a young family.

Playful curves and arched contours are seen throughout the interior. The rounded and raised roof, curved walls, rounded corners and bowed glass window in the guest bathroom are all reminiscent of Alvar Aalto’s forms – a big inspiration for the design team.

Considered use of colour is a defining feature of all Home Studios designs. At 20 Bond St, Farrow and Ball’s signature colour “pointing” covers the walls. The kitchen cabinets pop against the blue-grey “pigeon” colour, referencing Parisian courtyard doors. Bright and airy, oak and copper detailing delineate the spaces.

Natural stones add depth to the calm and neutral palette – an alcove made out of Santa Caterina travertine sits at the end of the hallway adorned with a James Hawksworth photograph, the creamy hue matching the maple floorboards. Meanwhile, the deep grey veins of the master bathroom’s custom vanity in honed Arabescato Classico marble compliment the ashy grey flooring and black fixtures.

Home Studios’ appreciation for craftsmanship can be felt in their thoughtful furniture sourcing. Playful pieces like Sabine Marcelis’ Candy Cube and Atelier de Troupe’s Jia chair can be found alongside Niels Otto Møller’s classic vintage model 80 dining chairs. This balancing of pieces from contemporary and historic designers with their own custom pieces ties the space together.

Overwhelmingly the space feels comfortable and practical. From the Howard sofa by Egg Collective and generous Column Table by Fort Standard in the living spaces, to the soaking tub and tiled sitting nook comfort was never compromised for style.

In their first residential project, Home Studios defy convention to create an apartment that’s future-proofed for the modern family. This project honours form-meet-function approach through surprising and elegant details.

| The article Form-Meets-Function: 20 Bond New York City Apartment by Home Studios. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Check out this incredible video of the entry, descent and landing of the Mars Perseverance Rover on February 18th. The footage begins about 7 miles (11 km) above the planet’s surface and ends with the rover’s touchdown in Mars’ Jezero Crater. For the next Martian year (about 687 Earth days), the Perseverance Rover will search for signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples to bring back to Earth. Who wants to see more images of Mars in the coming months?

Video source: NASA

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The post The Ultimate Guide to Liars and Lying: Everyone Falls Into These 4 Types appeared first on Nir and Far.

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Hundreds of saltwater evaporation ponds cover the south bank of Laizhou Bay in Shandong Province, East China. After being pumped to the surface from underground brines, salts are dried in these ponds and used to produce a variety of organic and inorganic chemicals and food additives. This particular area has China’s largest production capacity for bromine, an element found in seawater that is used in agricultural chemicals, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants and more.

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

37.153035°, 119.055863°

Source imagery: Maxar

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Spacegram studio has created a rich and enveloping space for their second venture with Restaurante Nómada, located in the centre of Lisbon’s vibrant shopping district. Completed in October 2020, the 150sqm eatery is an immersive dining experience that reflects the playful sensibility of the menu, a mix of Japanese cuisine and European flavours.

Materiality and sculptural elements have been key to reinterpreting the original barren and vault-like interiors. With a restrained palette of rusty red hues – inspired by the Japanese shade of aka – and natural materials of wood and marble, an overarching sense of warmth and quiet sophistication can be felt across three distinct spaces.

The entrance is through a tunnel emitting a soft glow that acts as a transitional threshold leading into the cocktail bar. A custom black metal staircase and bar are the focal point here – their clean, geometric lines defining this first intimate space.

On the lower dining level, a naturally lit, elongated space houses the sushi bar. The dramatic vaulted ceiling draws the eye up to the centrepiece of the room, a neon light fixture designed by Ian Yurisch in collaboration with Spacegram. Casting an amber glow its wire boat frame celebrates nomadic travel.

Casual dining is imbued through the composition, a nod to Japanese minimalism, with four tables sitting with a direct view of the restaurant’s sushi kitchen. Rojo Alicante stone and original pine floorboards painted a similar rust-red colour contribute to the monochromatic scheme. Providing an accent alongside the hues of aka the chairs, custom-designed by Spacegram have velvet upholstery in vintage gold colour.

Mirrors punctuate the space allowing guests to catch glimpses of forms and textures they may have missed.

The signature space is the most absorbing and intimate of all. Aptly named the ‘Cocoon Room’, this enclosed interior is enveloped in rippling wood panels, produced by MtWoods, echoing the natural aquatic world. Strip lighting along the top of the curved lounges highlights the texture of the ripples. The hand veneered panels curve at the top revealing an opening with a vortex sculpture hanging from the ceiling. Signifying nomadic water travel, the sculpture captures light and shadow as it moves in the space. A cavernous, cosy private dining space sits just off the cocoon room for an even more immersive dining experience– a great spot for events or special tastings.

Otherworldly and experiential, Spacegram’s design captures the ethereal energy of travel and nomadic life, while highlighting natural materials in a surprising way.

| The article Highlighting Natural Materials: Restaurant Nómada in Lisbon by Spacegram. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Lido Isle is a man-made island located in the harbor of Newport Beach, California. There are no commercial facilities on the island other than a small seasonal snack bar, and its only link to the surrounding city is a small bridge. It is solely residential, with approximately 1,800 inhabitants.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3pN4biM

33.612222°, -117.917694°

Source imagery: Nearmap

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Framed by overarching trees and three luscious elms is John and Susan Wardle’s renovated Kew Residence. Originally designed by Horace Tribe in 1951, the house is now beyond recognition after undergoing two modifications sparked by a slight oversight of termite infestation. With three children “(wearing) out the last iteration” and moving out of the three-storey residence, John and Susan took in a newfound opportunity to reinvigorate the home to suit their current and ongoing needs. Now completed its third renovation, Kew Residence proudly stands as an eclectic memoir of John Wardle’s adventures from childhood to now.

Located in Melbourne’s quiet suburb of Kew, the house is easily missed by its orientation on the site. Only a large window, stretching over two floors rests on top of the basement garage, is visible at street level. It is only when taking the subtle stone steps besides the garage that a sculptural façade of stone-like neutrals is revealed, crafted from the rough-textured walls paired with corrugated iron. This arrangement conceals a bungalow towards the North of the property, offering a peaceful escape from the main house.

The main building consists of four bedrooms, two bathrooms, open living/ dining and a separate entertainment area. The renovation, totalling 382 square metres, reaches every corner of the house, bringing back its original structural integrity and making it more energy-efficient via reglazing of the windows and resealing of doors. Burnt caramel-coloured Victorian Ash timber extends across the house, with prominent areas such as dining and study capturing the dappled light filtered from the luscious leaves. The material continually serves as a timely canvas for Wardle to display an impressive collection of beautifully crafted joinery – even the walls in the hallway are notched for flexible photo arrangement. Such quality of light and sightlines reflects Wardle’s appreciation for Louis Kahn’s Zen-like window seat in the Fisher House.

Growing up with a fascination for collecting artefacts, celebrated Australian architect desired to display his collection with an “archaeological charm and aesthetic”. His study – formerly a children’s playroom and elevated terrace – is now embellished with a wall of ceramics that transforms into a cupboard storing additional objects. Though the selected pieces are small enough to be asleep inside, other ones spill around the house, from the bespoke jigsaw-like dining table to rotating pottery beside the stairs. You can say the house is really inception of artworks – especially with Natasha Johns-Messenger’s pop out periscope window in the living room offering an alternate perspective of the city skyline.

It’s safe to say Wardle’s deep appreciation for craftsmanship unifies everything so effortlessly. Intricate details in the carpentry and joinery are unmissable in the family space – his 2001 thesis bench, which can change into a music stand, awaits a musician to entertain the space; the open plan kitchen is lined with concaved charcoal-like INAX tiles parallel to the timber, fitted with robust built-in cabinetry complimented by a bespoke Quartzite-topped island counter. Similarly, a newly added powder room beside the kitchen is paved with tiles “of a rare (handmade) sample” sourced directly from a factory in Taijimi, Japan – a city renowned for its ceramics.

As Wardle explains that “the home doesn’t represent just one architectural style and instead leans on various influences”, Kew Residence’s character whispers a growing treehouse to me. Filled with secret yet not-so-secret cabinetry, and a treasure trove-like display of childhood archaeological trinkets – somewhere within a sound design resides a youthful and nostalgic charm, bursting with pure joy.

| The article Kew Residence by John Wardle Architects. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

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Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, has been the home of the Australian Open tennis tournament since 1988. Held annually during the last two weeks of January (though later this year due to COVID-19), the tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Today, Naomi Osaka clinched the women’s singles title over Jennifer Brady, and tomorrow Novak Djokovic will face off against Daniil Medvedev in the men’s singles final.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3s7mpNa

-37.821667°, 144.978333°

Source imagery: Nearmap

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The Gambia is the smallest country in mainland Africa, following the path of its namesake river roughly 200 miles (320 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean. Apart from its western coast, the nation is bordered on all sides by Senegal and is just 4,127 square miles (10,689 square km) in area — about one-third the size of Belgium. Some 2 million people live in The Gambia, many residing on the coast and in the capital city of Banjul.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3k5N3TR

13.466667°, -16.600000°

Source imagery: NASA Earth

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Bulldozers push through piles of coal at the W.A. Parish Generating Station in Richmond, Texas, USA. This dual-fired coal and natural gas power plant has an installed capacity of 3,653 megawatts, making it the second largest conventional power station in the United States. The plant’s owner is the top electricity provider in the state of Texas and is under pressure this week as millions of Texans have been without power for days following a massive winter storm. More than 40% of the state’s energy consumption comes from coal and natural gas, and many experts say that its natural gas infrastructure was not prepared for the cold temperatures received.

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

29.473261°, -95.639456°

Source imagery: Nearmap