I love this house. Love how it was captured on film. AND I especially love the colors.

You will love it too – but you’ll have to leave me to go see it (copyright, and no time for permission issues.) Yeah, I get impatient. Also, there’s more cool stuff to see at this blog, so it wouldn’t kill you to go look.

See the house!

You can thank me later. Or now if you so choose

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Who loves this house?

Super tall. Getting groceries up there could be an issue. I really like that jaunty little garage attached to the side.

See more of this road trip.

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Road trip find – tall barrel home

If you haven’t seen it; it’s pretty cool. It is however, one of those buildings that might make some feel a little nervous. Having lived in earthquake prone areas, I’m inclined not to frequent buildings on stilts. It’s likely perfectly safe, but…

Arcspace has one of the better galleries of the college going on, including some sweet interior shots.

Thanks to Mary Jo for the reminder.

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Do You Feel Lucky?

So, I sat down today, and two hours later, I had nice clean bookmarks. Next task, blogroll upkeep, which believe me sounds scary. I’ve got some neat new bloggers and architects to add though, so it must be done.

Whoa, long story short, I found this while cleaning up my bookmarks, and you know, I have a sinking suspicion that someone sent me this structure. I usually mark items with names, but I didn’t this time, so if it was you (you know who you are) who sent me this I sincerely apologize in advance for not linking to you.

This is an ultra cool structure though. A tall building, on the heels of another tallish building, the now pronounced “fake” Best. Mansion. Ever.

This is the Freitag Flagship Store – from Spillmann Echsle Architects. I’ve never seen containers stacked like this, so this is a nice treat. I also think that this is the ideal store or club design. Very inviting; you know you want to go inside, good use of materials, great colors, and just plain hip.

I just love it. You know, sometimes I wonder how people can find such beauty in such unlikely materials and pieces. It’s cool we live in a world of people who manage; that makes me happy.

Need more?:

• Spillmann Echsle Architects have some amazing work to see at their site.
• See more pictures of the Flagship Store at Danda.

[Via Danda - home to many slick design ideas that you have to see.]

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Freitag Flagship Store

Kindergarten:

Light:

You can see this is going somewhere good:

Wavy amazement: Actually, this home, I did take the time to look up because I really like it. Here’s the full scoop from Architectural Record.

Visit Kauffmann Theilig & Partner for more.

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Wish I Spoke German

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about tall. Tall is problematic. You realize this when you’re even just three stories up trying to lay a roof and the wind blows sand into your eyes and you almost fall off said roof. Yes I was wearing my safety glasses! So, much for safety practices working. Me climbing through the rafters half blind was so not the best time ever.

Anyhow, tall can be an issue and not just for freak accidents. There are structural issues, wiring, plumbing, and view codes. If you want to piss off some neighbors go ahead and build tall. All kinds of things. However, if you build just a little tall it can be advantageous. The point is to reduce our uptake of land and if you can build up, right there you save some land if you plan it correctly.

Anyhow this building is tall and old so I figured I’d make a speech. Now that I’m done here’s the awesome home. Zecc Architecture did this amazing restoration and conversion of a Netherlands water tower into an actual home. As materialicious put it, “These guys are good.” Which is the perfect thing to say.

Front door below.

Want to see how water tower home interiors look? You can, after the jump…

Many more amazing interior shots and the roof patio to see at materialicious.

We are at the second to last day of our Fall Harvest Scavenger Hunt — time to play catch-up!

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Water Tower House

NO! Not these kind. More like this…

I have no idea what the heck this is. And also, it’s sort of a cheat because it’s not an actual home but look at this:

He’s leaning up against a little house. Weird. If you’re looking for a more swanky offbeat beaver house you might want to try Manhattan’s William Beaver House.

The William Beaver House is not my style at all but I know many like it. Also it was designed by Tsao & McKown; I usually do enjoy their work so it has that going for it.

This next one could be called the fish house…

It’s actually kind of freaking me out. That fish is creepy.

Why can’t all beaver houses be nice and simple like this holiday Beaver Chateau in Latvia?

Ah, my favorite Beaver home.

Still, if they all looked like this I suppose I’d have to change the name of this blog to normal simple homes blog; which to the masses is likely not nearly as exciting as offbeat. Hmmm. I shouldn’t say this but sometimes I do think simple is exciting. There; the offbeat girl’s dark secret. Cheers!

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Beaver Homes

It’s pretty bad when your house makes you look fat!

It’s not about how big your lot is, it is how you use it. Well this home is about 5′-0″ wide and three stories. The owner is planning a FOURTH floor addition. The lot next door must not be for sale.

[via Treehugger]
[pict ahboon]

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Skinny Living

This building caught my eye on Treehugger, but it turns out they got it from Architectnophilia. This building has an hidden wind turbine! How cool is that? Then it seems the design of the building it self reminds me of a propeller. Was each tower designed aerodynamically to create an air foil? So who designed this building?

I was led to the architectural firm, Marks Barfield, of London. When I was reading about this ambitious building I noticed:

“Learning from the mistakes of the past Skyhouse…”

What did the other building look like? [below and left via Skyscrapernews]

Actually, the building above could be addendum number three. Even so, they didn’t sway too far from the original idea. But what were the mistakes? From what I can tell, they added another “leaf or foil” to add additional units. The other obvious difference, and I am guessing an improvement, would be the addition of the wind turbine. The original design also had two-story interior gardens (the seven sections). I don’t think they got rid of all the gardens but instead moved them to the top of the towers on the revised Skyhouse. The last revision from reading the article on Skyscrapernews was they reduced the number of floors.

Let’s talk more about the design. The “foil or leaf” design of each tower is never really explained. In order to get the explanation you need to look at the other projects that Mark Barfield have designed. That brings us to The Cut Tower [pictured below via Marks Barfield]. This building has the same shape that makes up the three towers of the Skyhouse. The explanation for this:

“The eye shape plan creates a dramatic landmark building that maximizes river views to the north while maintaining a slender profile in the east and west, reducing over shadowing and downward wind movement to street level.”

This must also be when they realize the real potential “power” of their design for Skyhouse.

The last thing I wanted to point out about this project is that this project was started without an owner. Marks Barfield started looking for a solution to the housing problem without ultimately knowing whether or not they would be paid (assumption made from reading the article on skyscrapernews.). That makes the architecture firm of Marks Barfield just as ambitious as the projects they design.

What did I miss? Tell me if you know anything about this project. I want to be sure to find out if this project gets an owner and is being built.

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Height Envy: Skyhouse

[picture from 340 On The Park website, designed by SCB]

Chicago is quickly becoming the benchmark for eco-multi-family living. Jetson Green has learned that the USGBC has moved it’s Greenbuild 2007 conference from LA to Chicago. It is because of projects like 340 On The Park that has brought Chicago recognition. When you look at the above rendering you can’t help but be amazed by it’s style.

It’s facade is deceiving, it looks like a smaller building with a larger one hiding behind it. The building also appears to have a waist, the horizontal gap between the glass curtain wall, which I believe is an amenities floor. It may even be the “Winter Garden”. The intro to the 340 On The Park’s website will give you the a sense, visually, of what you get. I believe the cost is reasonable, $413/s.f. or $618,000 for a two-bedroom with 1,650 s.f., compared to New York where the same (or smaller) could go for $1,000/s.f..

This building was designed by Solomon Cordwell Buenz based in Chicago, Ill..

Another building caught my eye, Epic, in New York. It seems unusual to the people at Curbed and to me that this building would be a rental property.

This building isn’t as sexy as 340. It is however a classy high-rise box. The glass curtain wall exterior is sliced by a double Stucco “Fin”. The “Fin” calls out the obvious symmetry of the buildings footprint. This is more obvious in plan view of each floor. The website is comprehensive, you can select a floor, then a unit, and then you’ll see the view from that unit.

The beauty and high rise style is not the only unusual features for this rental property. It is the Epic’s Green credentials: On track for LEED Silver certification, over 20% recycled materials used in construction, over 20% of building materials were locally manufactured, over 50% of the wood used in the building was sustainably harvested, over 80% of construction and demolition waste was recycled, rooftop gardens, storm water reclamation system, EnergyStar appliances, energy-efficient lighting, floor-to-ceiling Low-E windows.

Why do I keep saying this is unusual for a rental property? Everything that makes this building “Green” costs more. Property owners usually can not justify the expense for offering these features. So it is usually reserved for Condo’s where the developer can charge for the extra expense. All of this may be unique to me but it’s not to The Durst Organization and Sidney Fetner Associates. This building was designed by SLCE Architects.

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Height Envy: Living