Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Nature Calls: Gorgeous Green Bathroom Lush with Plant Life

Posted: 12 Mar 2013 10:00 AM PDT

Peaceful, relaxed and removed from everyday life, this washroom may as well be outdoors for all its greenery, visible through a transparent floor, and climbing up the walls on all sides.

Presented by Azuma Makoto at the House Vision 2013 exhibition in Tokyo, Japan, the concept is absolutely minimal – a few white fixtures floating out from the walls and nothing else but glass and greenery.

The high-contrast photos complete the effect, making white doors, windows, floors and trim seem to to disappear, leaving only the shape created by the plant life in the room.

While it might not be a practical addition to your own home, it is certainly an inspirational example of how green surfaces can transform the most ordinary spaces.

Pretty, Portable: Cute 3-Piece Convertible Furniture Series

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 04:00 PM PDT

Dubbed Maisonette (Little Home), this series by Italian furniture and product designer Simone Simoncelli contains three pieces of minimalist furniture each with a dual function for small-space living.

The small table turns into a serving or eating tray, the trolley doubles as a container and the bookshelf also features a clothing hanger. The latter two, in particular, take advantage of vertical possibilities to double their usefulness per unit of space occupied.

The pieces are constructed from iron rods and naturally-finished adler wood – minimal but well-constructed materials for simplicity and durability. Simone’s portfolio also spans chairs, lighting, signage and more.

Semi-Subterranean Digs: Modern Take on Native Pit Houses

Posted: 11 Mar 2013 10:00 AM PDT

Modernism meets traditional environmental systems in this elegant dwelling seemingly sliced into the ground around it, drawing on geothermal advantages without forcing its residents entirely underground.

Dubbed the Edgeland Residence, this project by Bercy Chen Studio rehabilitates an existing brownfield site and “takes advantage of the earth's mass to maintain thermal comfort throughout the year” with an “insulative green roof and a 7‐foot excavation‐ gaining benefits from the earth's mass to help it stay cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.”

The residence is composed of two primary volumes on either side of an artificial void – one side for daytime activities (living, cooking and so forth) and the other for nighttime (sleeping), oriented based on the trajectory of the sun through the sky.

Beyond bringing back an historic American architectural typology based on passive systems, the project also renews the local ecology: “Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center collaborated to reintroduce over 40 native species of plants and wildflowers to the Edgeland House green roof and site, serving to help protect the local ecosystem.”

Contemporary systems extend tradition and environmentalism, including an “integrated hydronic HVAC system” that combine “hydronic heating and a green roof for maximum energy efficiency.”

Modern Earth Shelter: Homes Built into the Hillside

Posted: 10 Mar 2013 10:00 AM PDT

Rather than attempting to transcend vernacular architecture, BAUEN architecture studio has embraced its wisdom for two homes that sit side-by-side in Luque, Paraguay. The homes are thoroughly modern, but utilize an ancient earth-sheltered tradition to work in harmony with the hot, humid tropical climate of the area.

From certain angles, the homes are almost entirely hidden behind hills, their curved roofs mimicking the grassy shapes around them. BAUEN used the earth that was displaced in constructing the homes to build artificial hills  that embrace the modern structures, stabilizing the temperature inside with the thermal inertia of underground spaces. This technique reduces the need for energy-intensive air conditioning.

Both homes feature lots of glass both on the upper levels, and on the wall facing the yard, to fill the interiors with light in spite of the subterranean design. Differing slightly from one home to the other, the aesthetics call to mind both ultramodern architecture and architectural typologies of the distant past.

“The ‘Culata Jovai’ or ‘House of Confronted Rooms’ is a real bioclimatic solution belonging to one of our traditional ways of living in harmony with the environment in Paraguay, and constitutes our base typology for a new reinterpretation according to new functional programs, needs of symbolic representation and new technologies, framed in a sustainable project,” say the architects.

Compact & Colorful Kids Room Design Ideas by KIBUC

Posted: 09 Mar 2013 10:00 AM PST

From infancy to young adulthood, Spanish furniture manufacturer KIBUC keeps kids organized with a series of colorful and clever space-saving bedroom sets that offer different functions as the children grow. Completely customizable in a wide range of colors and finishes, each design offers a place to sleep, storage for clothes and toys, and, for older kids, a study area.

Children’s bedroom sets by KIBUC come in five age ranges: 0-3 years, 3-8 years, 8-12 years, 12-17 years and 17-25 years. The first set deals with the demands of infancy, such as cribs and changing tables, while teen bedrooms offer additional storage and trundle, bunk or transforming beds to accommodate siblings or visitors.

The various designs offer solutions for different personality types, like bedrooms with more storage for books and additional privacy, or setups for more social kids who often entertain friends.

As the kids grow into young adults, the designs become more sophisticated. The 17-25 series ranges from super-compact bedroom sets that could fit into a standard college dorm to entire separate rooms-within-rooms that can be closed off and curtained for a sense of private space. See the entire range, as well as adult furniture for the rest of the home, at KIBUC.com.

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