The Throwing Star

A long and narrow steel beam infill house for artist Laurie Frick in Austin Texas by design-build firm KRDB. The main entry is activated with a subtle push into a generous hallway that doubles as gallery for the client’s art collection. The requirements were for a 1600sf one-bedroom, two-bathroom house with an office and a 700sf studio on an infill lot in Barton Heights. The previous home was moved off the site, leaving a constricted buildable area located between a Diadora Cypress at the street and a magnificent Live Oak and swimming pool to the rear.

This contemporary home is a remodeling of classical 1950s ranch style house for a couple and their two children. It’s surrounded by secluded woods and its new exterior finishes were chosen by architects from U+B Architecture and Design to blend with the shadowed tree trunks around. The windows are designed to maximize views of all that surrounding nature. Because of sloping site the house has two stories on the one side and one story on the another. Between these two wings a large desk with a pool took up all the place. The interior become more open and light-filled thanks to removing of some interior walls. Materials that were chosen for interior design made it more natural and cozy.

Bloomframe has to be one of the best of the practical architectural innovations. The Dutch designers Hofman Dujardin Architects have won a handful of awards for the product that has now hit the commercial market. With the simple click of the remote, an unsuspecting window transforms into a glass balcony. Coming in several sizes, this balcony will add square footage to any room of your dwelling. That is, if you can find someone to install the balcony. But surely, we’ll be seeing the Bloomeframe in newly built apartments ready equipped sometime soon.

Whether you’re a hiker, mountain biker or cross-country skier, the Rolling Huts, located in Washington’s Methow Valley, are the perfect accommodation. The owner purchased the site, formerly a RV campground, with the aim of allowing the landscape return to its natural state. It had been a flood plain meadow in an alpine river valley. The concept was to have simple mobile structures able to roll into and set up on the site, yet to provide clearance for nature below each hut. Rolling Huts are sustainable in other ways too. The roof is a butterfly roof for water conservation and the large wheels lift the structures high above the meadow, keeping the footprint of each hut to the barest minimum, making for a low-tech and low-impact design. Tom Kundig of Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen performed the architecture.

There is something that grabs me about homes that feature large open spaces and clean modern lines. However, the B House you see here is truly in a league of its own. Designed by Duilio Damilano in Cuneo, Italy, the B House features modern shapes that promote (more…)

As a homeowner one site I visit often for products and trends is Home Design Find. A daily guide to the best furniture, kitchens, bathrooms and design online. Personally I favor the modern dwellings on Home Design Find. The design blog also gives countless ideas and tips on how to turn my humble abode in to a practical living space. I suggest getting yourself a subscription to some HDF.