Another Ingenious Renovation

Architects from the Anna & Eugeni Bach firm recently finished a very unique renovation of a Barcelona, Spain apartment. The renovation was done with the goal of maximizing the available space in the apartment, while playing to its already existing strengths.

The apartment measures a generous 70 sq m (753.4 sq ft). To achieve a more modern, open type of living space, the architects first tore down the many corridors that originally connected the apartment's small rooms. The interior is now comprised of a kitchen, a dining area and living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom.

Since the apartment has high ceilings, the architects decided to utilize this vertical space. They did so by designing a small work area under the ceiling. The hanging desk they placed here is by far the most innovative feature of this remodel. Quite frankly, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before, but it's a great idea. The desk hangs below the ceiling and is accessible via a ladder at the side of wooden unit that separates the kitchen from the rest of the apartment. They also raised one part of the bathroom to create a generous storage area.

The rest of the apartment also features a number of other clever space-saving fixes, such as a series of small nooks, and a fold-down kitchen table. The bedrooms are small but functional, and they are separated from the main living area of the apartment in a way that offers sufficient privacy. The bathroom is spacious and features a large shower and sink. The walls of the apartment were painted white to add to the feeling of spaciousness, though they left the wooden support beams on the ceiling bare, which adds a nice rustic aesthetic to the space.

This renovation is another great example of how easy it is to turn the old into something modern and new. The renovation was completed in 2015.

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Unique Way to Bring Nature into Your Home

Wouldn't it be nice to have a relaxing green oasis right in your living room, which you could retreat to whenever you wished to, come rain or shine? Well, now you can…sort of. Alexandra Kehayoglou makes rugs, which are designed to resemble and feel like lush nature scenes. She makes these rugs using recycled scraps of carpet thread that she collects from a carpet factory that is owned by her family in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Most of her works of art-I think it is safe to call them that-feature both a ground cover and the backdrop of nature meant to create the feeling of, for example, lying on a bed of moss, a grassy meadow, a sandy beach, pastures or even a snow covered landscape.

So, when one of her rugs is put in a home, it really does evoke the feeling of being in one of these nature settings. Alexandra makes these rugs by hand, first designing them, and then creating them piece by piece. It takes a long time to make every single carpet this way, but the end result is worth it, especially for Alexandra who considers these “pastures” and “refuges”, as she refers to them, transformative elements that allow imagination to soar and the mind to heal.

The above is a very artistic way of putting it, but it is true that being closer to nature has a lot of positive health benefits. And these rugs are a great way to bring nature into your home, which is especially beneficial if you happen to live in an apartment in the city with little access to sprawling natural settings.

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A 3D Printed Office Completed in Dubai

It's been kind of quiet in the sphere of 3D printing of buildings lately, but the new project recently completed in Dubai definitely shows promise for the concept. The structure is called the Office of the Future and the project was started back in 2015. And now, the world's first 3D printed office is completed and ready for use.

The Office of the Future has a footprint of 2,690 sq ft (250 sq m), and is located inside the Emirates Towers complex in Dubai. To construct it, they used a large 3D printer, which measures 20 x 120 x 40 ft (6 x 36 x 12 m). It was used to print the building by extruding a cement mixture layer by layer. The project was completed in collaboration with WinSun, a firm that already has successfully printed houses under its belt. They also used several smaller, mobile 3D units to finish the office.

It took mere 17 days to print the office, but finishing the structure internally and externally took longer. It also seems like the parts needed to construct the office were actually printed off-site, then transported and assembled on-site. While the exact price of this project wasn't made public, the Dubai government claims that the costs were about half of what they would be had the structure been built using traditional methods.

Labor costs were also very low, since only a single staff member was needed to monitor the printing process. They did hire seven people to erect the building, as well as ten electricians and other specialists who took care of the technical aspects of the construction.

Dubai and the United Arab Emirates wish to become world leaders in 3D printing, and The Office of the Future is just the first of many projects they wish to tackle. Their plan is to focus on 3D printing in the fields of construction, as well as creating medical and consumer products. It will certainly be interesting to follow their progress.

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Gorgeous Furniture Made From Fallen Tree Branches

There are a lot of ways to get “back to nature” some of which are readily apparent, while others are more unique. The beautiful furniture pieces made by Sebastian Errazuriz, a NYC-based designer from Chile, certainly fall into the latter category. He uses fallen tree branches to make bookshelves, tables, and more, while the idea behind his work is to recycle the wood in its natural shape, rather than processing it into some new and unrecognizable form.

He salvages fallen branches, then begins the process of creating his unique furniture pieces by first sanding them down to achieve a uniform surface. He then coats the branches with a black, matte lacquered finish, which gives them a very elegant yet natural look. To create the actual furniture pieces he places clear glass shelves over the branches in strategic ways, depending on the final purpose of the piece of furniture he's making. Due to the clear glass shelves and their clever placing, it appears like the objects stored on these pieces of furniture are floating in the air, or are actually supported only by the branches.

The higher concept behind this project, as the designer explains it, is trying to get people to see the obvious and everyday a little differently. I think he's achieved that, and that these pieces would make a great addition to any home. Due to the nature of the material, each piece is also one-of-a-kind.

One of the best pieces is certainly the desk that is made from a larger branch and a glass top. The original shape of the small tree, or perhaps bush, used for it wasn't altered very much, so it's like bringing a piece of the forest right into the living room. I want one!

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Furniture on Wheels

Putting wheels on pieces of furniture is not exactly a new idea, and I'm rather surprised not to see this type of solution employed by tiny home designers more often. Perhaps these Movables pieces designed by PolyLester for the Kunstfort Vijfhuizen arts center in Holland will yield some inspiration.

The arts center they wanted furniture that would not encroach too much on the actual art on display. The Movables pieces seem like the perfect solution to this. The units featured at the exhibition space are four tables, a reception desk, a projection wall that also features storage space, a unit for the meeting room, and a couple of stages that double as cloakrooms. The real advantage of these pieces is that each Movables unit can serve many functions. For example, the reception desk is fitted with shelves, and it can also be used as a workspace for two people. It is also possible to combine the storage unit and the wardrobe into a larger piece.

Since the pieces are all on wheels, they can also easily be moved around, and used to divide up the space. The shape and volume of the units are geometrical and clear-cut, which allows them to be arranged together like a puzzle or a life-sized game of Tetris. They opted for a white and yellow color scheme, so the units blend in more seamlessly and do not distract from the art on display.

It took about two years to complete this Movables project, due to funding and architectural issues, but it is finished now. I'd imagine that fitting a tiny house or apartment with furniture on wheels would allow for a much better use of available space, and it would be interesting to see some interior layout solutions designed in this way.

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Students Build Cozy Vacation Cabins

Not long ago, a team of architecture students from the Colorado Building Workshop built 14 cozy small cabins in Leadville, Colorado. The cabins were prefabricated, and will serve as dormitories of the Colorado Outward Bound School. The cabins are called Colorado Outward Bound Micro Cabins and were built on a rather steep hill in the Lodgepole Pine forest.

In order to shorten the amount of on-site construction time needed, the cabins were prefabricated in Denver and then shipped to the build site, where they were assembled in just three weeks.

The cabins are quite simple. Each of them rests on top of concrete piles, while they are designed in a way that offers an outdoor/indoor area which can be used for storing sports gear like kayaks, bikes and so on. The frame of the home also has a secondary roof, which is reinforced so as to be able to withstand heavy winter snow loads, which are common in the area. The exterior cladding of the cabins is hot-rolled steel and this material was used because it needs very little maintenance.

The cabins measure from 140 to 200 sq ft (13 to 18 sq m). The interior is clad in birch plywood. The actual layouts are slightly different cabin to cabin, but they all feature pull-down beds and plenty of storage. The cabins have no bathrooms or kitchens, which is rather a shame. There is a bathhouse nearby that the guests can use though.

They have started building seven more such cabins, while they have also already hired a local architecture firm to design a new staff lodge for the school. This building will have bathrooms, a laundry, a dining hall and communal space, and will offer those staying at the cabins all the necessary facilities. They plan to complete the project by 2018.

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