Dornob | Design Ideas Daily

Dornob | Design Ideas Daily


Graceful Glass + Winsome Wood = Serene Lake House

Posted: 28 Aug 2013 10:00 AM PDT

over water house india

If given the choice, it seems that most people would prefer to live in a beautiful home surrounded by the peace of nature than in a cramped, noisy city. The only problem is finding a balance between that home and the natural setting in which it sits. Design Workshop achieved this delicate balance in the Over Water house in Pune, India.

exterior over water house india

distance shot over water house

The building site is located between the mountains and a lake. Building any structure in such a lovely location detracts from the natural beauty of the place, which is why the designers tried to make as little impact as possible on the surroundings.

over water house balcony

balcony over water

The house sits perched like a bird on two columns, with the back facing the mountains for privacy. The glass, wood and steel home includes a large balcony on the water-facing side to allow for stunning, unobstructed views of the lake.

interior bedroom over water house

loft and facilities over water house

bedroom over water house

Enclosed on all sides by glass walls, the home offers privacy in the form of wooden shutter-like slats outside of the glass. Natural light is allowed to flow naturally and to touch every surface of the home’s interior.

over water entrance

The designers seem to have succeeded in their quest to create a home that is livable and inviting, but which only causes minimal interference with the natural beauty around it.


    






Beyond Fairy Gardens: DIY Cracked Flower Pot Landscapes

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 04:00 PM PDT

broken pot landscape montage

A slight variation on the popular Fairy Garden phenomena, some people have taken to upcycling broken and abandoned ceramic pots into layered scenes of all sorts.

broken part art objects

A Redditor submitted one set of such images, shown above, but there are other examples as well on forums and gardening sites around the internet that can serve as inspiration for those inclined to make their own variants.

broken pot landscape design

Fairy Gardens 101 shows a few, for instance, in greater detail, featuring more fantastical landscapes and other miniature architecture.

broken pot house tree

The trick, it would seem, is simply to take advantage of the layered views afforded by a broken edge, and to use shards to shore up walkways and platforms to give the entire scene a sense of elevation and implied paths of circulation or at least space to spill over.

broken pot fairy garden

The aesthetic need not be limited to fairy fantasies, but they provide a familiar baseline from which more experimental garden artists could easily deviate.


    






Quirky Cabana: Little Retreat Blends into Sloped Landscape

Posted: 27 Aug 2013 10:00 AM PDT

forest retreat

Contextual and eclectic, you could almost imagine it as a kind of folk architecture, but there is more to this simple building than meets the eye.

forest slope cabina

For one, despite its colorful mix of materials, a simple and strong concept stands behind the overtly hodge-podge design by Alex Wyndham: the idea of raising up the existing ground and making it into the roof, in turn intended to nurse native plants.

forest natural cabin design

Set in central California, the building uses reclaimed bark (maybe a bit rough for facades, but it does make for a sustainable cladding system), which further helps the structure look like a part of its natural surroundings.

forest contextual architecture

The structure itself is situated to take advantage of the down-slope view of the ocean, framed by three simple windows, while providing a sense of privacy and enclosure along its other faces.

forest green natural systems

Heating and cooling are entirely passive, neatly built into the fundamentals of the structure and its orientation. Upcycled materials (from reclaimed floorboards to windows) were used wherever possible, making for a green project through and through.

 


    






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