hunterdouglas.com
©2020 Hunter Douglas
FEEL LIGHT TRANSFORMED™ Innovative window treatments with PowerView® Automation transform the natural light in your home to create the perfect mood, whenever the moment.
Pirouette® Shadings with PowerView® Automation
ch24 wishbone chair, 1949 by hans wegner - made in denmark by carl hansen & son
carl hansen kartell herman miller vitra fritz hansen bensen knoll flos artek artifort moooi moroso montis and more!
The Corcoran Group is a licensed real estate broker located at 590 Madison Ave, NY, NY 10022.
be mind be body be spirit be home.
S E A R C H F O R H O M E S AT C O R C O R A N .C O M
Over 70 years of innovation and fine craftsmanship come together in this sleek and stylish kitchen faucet. All our products are 100% brass, equipped with the latest technology, and backed by a lifetime warranty; our stunning fishes are top of the line.
Discover More helvexusa.com 406-414-0786 helvex@cpsupply.us
Helvex Pull-Down Gooseneck Kitchen Faucet with Retractable Magnetic Spray Jet in Matte Black
July/August 1011 “We wanted a traditional French countryside home with a completely modern interior.” Onur Keçe, designer and resident Page 84
CONTENTS
features COVER PHOTO BY
Javier Agustín Rojas ABOVE
Alix and Onur Keçe embraced open space and color in renovating their 19th-century home. PHOTO BY Alejandra Hauser
66 Years in the Making A friendship blossoms in a South African home near Table Mountain. TEXT
Neo Maditla PHOTOS
Stephanie Veldman
76 A Lot of Potential
84 Dream Sequence
A narrow site in New Orleans forces a pair of designers to be clever with space.
In a nature preserve outside Paris, two creative directors design a colorful country home.
TEXT
TEXT
Jenny Adams
Jennifer Baum Lagdameo
PHOTOS
PHOTOS
Daymon Gardner
Alejandra Hauser
11
“When the doors and windows of the main living space are open, it essentially transforms the indoor living space into an outdoor living space.” - Cavin Costello, principal architect, The Ranch Mine
westernwindowsystems.com
Moving glass walls and windows for all the ways you live.
July/August 2021
38
60
CONTENTS
27
departments 15 Editor’s Letter 18 Community
114 Sourcing See it? Want it? Need it? Buy it!
27 Modern World
44 Studio
60 Outside
We meet the people at the center of some of the most exciting design scenes in the world, who tell us why their city should be on your radar right now. They also show us the furniture, lighting, and other objects for your home that embody their city’s vibe. You may not be able to travel there yet, but these five places should be on your list.
Architect Patrick Tighe believes that the future of Los Angeles is affordable and challenges conventional ideas about how low-cost housing should look.
A cabin floating high above a lake in British Columbia offers a woodsy retreat for an artist and her family.
Ian Volner PHOTOS BY Ye Rin Mok
PHOTOS BY
TEXT BY Sarah Buder and Adrian Madlener
116 One Last Thing Furniture designer Crystal Ellis meditates on a brass egg that symbolizes her professional and creative journey.
TEXT BY
TEXT BY
Riya Patel Jooney Woodward
ILLUSTRATION BY
Stacey McLachlan Bryce Duffy
94 Budget Breakdown 48 Renovation An apartment in a historic Singapore building gets a breezy refresh from architect Ling Hao. Luo Jingmei PHOTOS BY Fabian Ong TEXT BY
38 Conversation South African designer Sumayya Vally discusses her unconventional vision for the Serpentine Pavilion and how it relates to her expansive view of architecture.
TEXT BY
54 Interiors Two Argentinean designers create something unexpected inside a 19th-century apartment with a challenging layout. TEXT BY
A Texas couple build an elegant backyard office without breaking the bank. TEXT BY
Jessie Temple Leonid Furmansky
PHOTOS BY
100 Off the Grid A mountainside retreat in Hawaii produces all of its own electricity and opens wide to the landscape. TEXT BY
Kelly Vencill Sanchez Mariko Reed
PHOTOS BY
Vanessa Bell Javier Agustín Rojas
PHOTOS BY
Get a full year of Dwell at dwell.com/subscribe
13
E X P E R I E N C E
GRACE 36" CHANDELIER I N M AT T E B L A C K / W E AT H E R E D O A K DESIGNER: SEAN LAVIN FOR TECH LIGHTING
V I S U A L
C O M F O R T
editor’s letter
On the Road Again
Our photographers, writers, and other contributors do an excellent job of translating the feeling of being inside a home into stories for these pages, but of course there is no substitute for experiencing architecture in person. That simple fact is why a year without travel has been a challenge for those of us who thrive on seeking out new design. Here in the U.S., many cities are starting to open up as more people are vaccinated, and there’s a sense of optimism that we may someday soon be visiting distant places again. With that in mind, we couldn’t be happier to reintroduce our annual issue looking at the intersection of design and travel. You may not be able to visit them just yet, but in our Modern World section (p. 27), we’ve selected five cities for your future itinerary. We touch down everywhere from Ho Chi Minh City, where a fashion brand’s open houses attract a who’s who of the city’s creative community, to Lagos, where a new generation is turning a place better known for film and music into a design capital. We also visit the creative microclimates within Atlanta’s sprawl, the abundant—and still relatively cheap—studio space that enables Athens designers’ anything-goes attitude, and a Quito architecture office doing distinctly regional work even as its city turns heads with a crop of new buildings by an international roster of starchitects. In each destination, we meet people contributing to their hometown’s dynamism, and they show us some examples of the furniture, lighting, and other objects that embody their city’s creative spirit. The homes in this issue also represent a global range of concepts and aesthetics, and at all different scales and budgets. From a dream-like French countryside getaway (p. 84) to a down-to-earth home office in Austin (p. 94), they offer a broad view of ideas about how to build and renovate. But as Johannesburg designer Sumayya Vally reminds us, architecture is more than buildings. “Ritual, atmosphere, and even forms of dress are essential parts of how a space is constructed,” she says in our interview about her commission for this year’s Serpentine Pavilion (p. 38). It’s an aspect of design that you can’t fully clock from an Instagram post. To really understand a space, you have to meet the people whose lives it shapes and spend time in the culture it inhabits. For that reason, whatever design destinations are on your wish list, I hope you can get back out there soon.
PHOTO: WESLEY MANN
William Hanley, Editor-in-Chief william@dwell.com
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
15
Dwell Editorial Editor-in-Chief William Hanley Managing Editor Jack Balderrama Morley
Dwell®, the Dwell logo, Dwell Media, and At Home in the Modern World are registered trademarks of Dwell Life, Inc.
Dwell 548 Market Street PMB 95259 San Francisco, CA 94104-5401
Executive Editor Jenny Xie Senior Editor Mike Chino
letters@dwell.com
Editor, Dwell Creative Services Robyn Wise Articles Editor Sarah Buder Associate Editor Samantha Daly Assistant Editor Duncan Nielsen Contributing Editors Kelly Vencill Sanchez Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Copy Editor Suzy Parker Fact Checkers Meredith Clark Brendan Cummings Jy Murphy Dora Vanette Creative Director Suzanne LaGasa
CEO Zach Klein
Dwell.com
Advertising
Photo Director Susan Getzendanner
CRO Nicole Wolfgram
Director, Product Management Daniel Miesner
Director of Sales Tara Smith tara@dwell.com
Art Director Derek Eng
Founder / Chair Lara Hedberg Deam
Engineering Manager Jim Redd
Board Member Dave Morin
Senior Product Designer Brandon Dorn
Branded Content Manager Haley Heramb haley@dwell.com
Advisor Jennifer Moores
Software Engineers Wing Lian Camille Jackson
Assistant Account Manager David Marin david@dwell.com
Marketing Article Reprints Send requests to: reprints@dwell.com
Account Services Manager Doree Antig doree@dwell.com
Senior Marketing Manager Erin V. Mahoney
Sales Production Manager Maris Berkowitz mberkowitz@dwell.com
Subscription Inquiries Call toll-free: 877-999-9559 Outside the U.S. and Canada: 515-248-7689 subhelp@dwell.com
16
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL MEDIA
comments
“I’ve never seen a round house that looks like it would function well—until now. Well done!” —April, via Dwell.com
Comments [Re “Clutter Control,” May/June]: Peg boards can be handy, but they look terrible, especially close up. I have repurposed old flat-slab hollow-core doors (especially bifold closet door slabs because they don’t have door handle holes) by mounting them to a wall and then drilling holes to accept the brackets, hooks, etc. that are designed for peg boards—works very well, looks way better, no unnecessary holes… ADRIAN VAN MIERLO, VIA DWELL.COM
Re: Painted Brick [Re “An Open Invitation,” March/ April]: How do they deal with mosquitoes and other bugs with those big patio doors? I love the disappearing wall look but imagine a house full of critters. @ERIKANUNLEY VIA INSTAGRAM
Easier to clean. @BOSTONTWO
Painted brick is like painting hardwood. You cover up its unique character.
Patina on brick is the best part. Why cover it up?!
Reminds me of Grandma’s basement. @SHEENANAGAINS
@FRANKLEZBLEU
Reminds me of 1965.
So fun! Don’t listen to these Debbie Downers.
@NORTHFORKNICCI
@EASTFACINGCONDO
Reminds me of when a frat house would “freshen up” before parents’ weekend…
I spoke to Brick. It says, “I don’t like it.”
@NORDLYSLODGINGCO ARCHITECT ERIC HUGHES REPLIES:
There are screens on the sliding doors, but for the photo shoot they are pulled back to the sides, so you don’t really see them. The screens are from the sliding door company Western Windows and Doors.
I like the pop of unexpected color combined with the brick texture. It’s visually interesting. @PROPERVILLAIN9
What, do I live in a firehouse? Yuck.
@_ANDYWILKINSON
@ALSELS
POLL Love it or hate it: painted brick
@HCALB
Instagram Among our top posts was this home conceived by Tal Schori and Rustam Marc-Mehta of GRT Architects for Schori’s parents in upstate New York [“Out for a Spin,” November/ December 2020]. A clever layout and clerestory windows make the efficient one-room plan feel surprisingly spacious. “We’ve learned that we don’t need a lot of space,” says Yael, Schori’s mom.
18
This is a beautiful way to highlight brick that is otherwise drab and dated looking! @737PILOTMIKE
It’s tacky and I hate it. @LYTTLEBIRDIE
Sometimes brick just isn’t pretty, and people get stuck on preserving it rather than enjoying it. @FRANK_AND_OLLIE
Love
Hate
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
PHOTOS: MARIKO REED (HAWAII); BRIAN W. FERRY (INSTAGRAM). ILLUSTRATION: PETER OUMANSKI
COMMUNITY
Architect Craig Steely designed this hillside home for retired professor Mitchell Lee Marks on Hawaii’s Big Island [“Escape Pod,” May/June]. The site’s panoramic views inspired the circular floor plan.
A RC HITE C TUR A LLY CONSCIO US SH A DING Motorized shade systems with no visible wires or screws
Thoughtfully designed to accentuate architecture
J GEIGER
Expertly installed for a precision fit
Visit Our New York Showroom
Find a Retailer Near You
A&D Building 150 E 58th St, Floor 3 New York, NY 10155
844-543-4437 info@j-geiger.com jgeigershading.com
dwell.com
House Hunting
COMMUNITY
2
1
3
4
1. Moritz Kundig’s Historic Wallmark House This landmarked midcentury home just outside Spokane, Washington, offers lakefront living for $1.1 million.
20
2. A Seaside Cabin in Guilford, Connecticut Listed for $1.5 million, this triangular retreat by architect Vincent C. Amore served as his own inspirational getaway.
3. A Portuguese Pied-à-Terre This renovated 18th-century apartment selling for $815,000 occupies the top floor of a Pombaline-style building in Lisbon.
4. A Remixed Midcentury Ranch Artfully reimagined by A1000xBetter, this open-plan Southern California residence is available for $2.375 million.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
PHOTOS: EUGEN MICHEL (1); DENNIS CARBO/COURTESY SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY (2); FERNANDO GUERRA | FG+SG (3); ALEX ZAROUR OF VIRTUALLY HERE STUDIOS (4)
Whether you’re searching for your dream home or just window shopping, you can find the most alluring listings in the U.S. and beyond in Dwell’s Real Estate column. Get the scoop at dwell.com/real-estate.
Automatic temperature & humidity control takes the guesswork out to keep your food fresh up to 3x longer.*
™
™
*As compared to a Bosch refrigerator without FarmFresh System™. Results may vary among different foods. **Individual results vary depending on type, initial freshness and proper storage and use of food. ©2021 Bosch Home Appliances | www.bosch-home.com/us
dwell asks
What favorite design object have you taken home from your travels? Sometimes the best part about a trip is the special find you bring back.
A teapot from Spin Ceramics in Shanghai. @kolbykayworth A vintage catchall dish from Kyoto— I use it daily. @lilyskatz
COMMUNITY
I love the square wooden salad bowl we brought back from Santiago, Chile. @kserles
A raffia cactus sculpture from Morocco. @majawieblerstudio A Luis Barragán Mercury globe. @casabotanica design
Paper cranes from all around Japan. @natebowling
A miniature handpainted ceramic rooster from Lisbon. @stephanie_fois Dopper water bottles from the Netherlands—they’re both beautiful and functional. @lostonmydesktop A painting by a street artist in Sri Lanka of a monk taking his last steps to Nirvana. @architecturalist_
A Murano desk clock from Venice. @jingantonio Black-and-white bone salt and pepper shakers from a trip to Kenya. @jazzzyjade A Picabia drawing picked up in Portugal. @renee_killough
I carried on a midcentury chandelier that I purchased at a flea market in Paris. @katiestuart87
A seersucker scarf from the Design Museum of Helsinki. @nicolemckernan A clear, solid crystal apple from Sweden. @moss._and._fern
Vintage mini trophies and coronation souvenirs from the Portobello Road shops in London. @kimsking3
A handmade copper tea canister from Kyoto with our family name hammered into the scoop. @atxaylin Books—especially with cool covers. @garethe.smith2225 Carpets galore! Postcards that are now framed pieces of art. @fitzybriscoe I usually bring back books, but also chimes, bells, and hand drums. @slavzatokaimages
A handblown glass punch bowl and ladle from France— it’s a work of art! @gruberslp A large triton shell from the Caribbean. @akamommy31 I always try to pick up a handmade ceramic cup or bowl. @mikeman715 Woodblock prints from Tokyo. @topocat A hand-molded clay bottle from Guatemala. @abe-bueckert1 A pink capiz shell chandelier I found at a Manila crafts fair. @westcat54 I always try to get some local fabric. @magiceyekirsty A Dr. Skud fly swatter by Philippe Starck. @heidijalkh
A Thai rice basket. @mariadavismichaud
22
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
ILLUSTRATION: MIGUEL MONKC
A crazy, colorful footstool from Rio. @rian_withani
TIM CUPPETT ARCHITECTS | PHOTO: WHIT PRESTON PHOTOGRAPHY
CCS ARCHITECTURE | PHOTO: MATTHEW MILLMAN
Real Cedar Siding: Because having only one option is not an option.
realcedar.com
houses we love
A Home for the Ages
COMMUNITY
A California designer creates a space that will last a lifetime.
More at Dwell.com Do you have a project you’d like to see published in Houses We Love? Share it at dwell.com/add-a-home
24
TEXT BY
Colleen Clark PHOTOS BY | @EMBRIODESIGNSTUDIO
Susie St. John
No-fuss, sturdy materials, like Kährs oak chevron floors that camouflage dirt and easy-care black metal siding, free up time for family. “The more durable the material, the less work to maintain it,” designer and resident Susie St. John says.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
“Someone snidely asked if we were building a rec center. I thought, This is what architecture should be about, asking what is a home, what could it be?” Susie St. John, designer and resident
“If I had built this house after design school, it would have felt like a warehouse, all cold concrete and glass,” says Susie St. John, founder of Embrio Design Studio in San Diego. But supporting her mother through years battling cancer in environs ill-suited to someone with impaired mobility fundamentally redefined Susie’s concept of home. The 2,740-square-foot, butterfly-roofed house she designed for herself, husband Rick, and their 11-year-old son, Otto, in Carlsbad, California, is squarely focused on family, including extended family in the area. “I wanted it to feel like a home for everyone, like somebody giving you a hug,” she says. Four bedrooms connect to a doubleheight kitchen/living/dining space—half the size of the whole house—where sunlight streams through a wall of steelframed windows. An everyone’s-welcome, twelve-and-a-half-foot-long table
accommodates large family dinners thanks to 14 Eames chairs (salvaged by a friend who was redesigning Chipotle’s nearby headquarters). “A great room is not for everyone,” says Susie. “But for me, it was about drawing my family out, witnessing them grow, enjoying each other’s company.” Construction was also a communal affair. Susie acted as general contractor, and friends pitched in at every stage. For the designer, building a home for everyone also meant considering not just the people they are now, but who they will become as they age, an approach that is reflected in the home’s entry ramp and wheelchair-accessible halls and showers. “Those are the features that would have made my mom’s life significantly easier— and definitely more enjoyable—both for her and those who cared for her,” says Susie. “And these are the features that will allow us to stay in this home forever.” The butterfly roof (left) adds a joyful kineticism to the exterior while creating practical angles ideal for solar panels and rainwater collection. The playful, color-blocked Kardiel sideboard separates the dining and living areas
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
(above right). The overall design balances highand low-cost materials— as in IKEA kitchen cabinets alongside custom shelving and a Breville espresso machine (above left).
25
WE BELIEVE IN THE ART OF THE BATH. NOW IT’S YOUR CANVAS.
OUR BATHTUBS ARE CRAFTED FROM NATURAL VOLCANIC LIMESTONETM. THESE UNIQUE SCULPTURAL FORMS ARE HAND CAST IN SOUTH AFRICA AND MADE TO LAST A LIFETIME.
PRESENTING THE VETRALLA BATHTUB.
H O U S E O F R O H L .C O M
AVAILABLE IN 194 CUSTOM COLORS.
A DISTINCTIVE MEMBER OF THE H O U S E O F R O H L® ©2021
FUTURE DESIGN DESTINATIONS
Modern World PROFILES BY
CAPTIONS BY
PHOTO BY | @JAMIECHUNGSTUDIO
Sarah Buder
Adrian Madlener
Jamie Chung
Each person we interviewed pointed us to furniture, lighting, and other objects for your home that represent what’s going on in design where they live. Lagos architect Tosin Oshinowo recommends these spice bowls from Då Brand’s Raw Urban collection. On the Wall: The colors setting the tone for this section were selected in partnership with Benjamin Moore. On this page is Rosy Peach (2989-29).
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
Designers at the center of five emerging creative scenes tell us why their city should be on your radar right now—and, hopefully soon, your itinerary.
27
QUITO, E CUA D O R
ILLUSTRATIONS BY | @PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM PAMELA SILVA
SALLY
Objekt1 Quito company Objekt1 produces straightforward furnishings. Despite their simplicity, they carry a strong sense of locality and Ecuadorian tradition, especially in their form and color. The Sally table is produced using a single sheet of metal and comes in several vibrant hues.
GLASS STOOL
Daniel Moreno Flores and Marie Combette Outside of its UNESCO-listed historic center, the Ecuadorian capital has become a magnet for such international “starchitects” as Jean Nouvel, Bjarke Ingels, and Carlos Zapata. But for Quito architects Daniel Moreno Flores and Marie Combette, the projects that represent the city’s emerging design ethos come from a different cohort. “Quito’s young designers are motivated to make significant changes for the city by emphasizing local resources, social concerns, tradition, and artisan capabilities,” Flores says. “As global cities become more homogenized, it’s an act of cultural conservation to understand the place where we live and
28
take advantage of regional resources.” Flores and Combette’s Quitobased firm, La Cabina de la Curiosidad, designs unconventional spaces in and around the city. Their projects prioritize reused materials, such as shipping containers, as well as locally sourced mediums. “There is an ancestral intelligence in knowing how to occupy the materials from our territory, such as fibers, cottons, wood, or recyclables,” Combette says. She cites eucalyptus wood—which grows abundantly in Ecuador—as one traditional resource embraced by younger designers. The duo point to La Floresta,
Ángeles Ortiz
La Tola, and the historic center as “Quito neighborhoods with a lot of creative energy and strong Indigenous roots,” calling out galleries such as +ARTE and No Lugar. “There’s a healthy spirit of companionship between the local architects, designers, and other creatives,” explains Flores, whose peers include Ecuadorian architects Aquiles Jarrín and Felipe Escudero, as well as firms like Diez+Muller. “There’s a willingness to be part of a network that shares knowledge, generates debate, and sustains community based on cultural conservation,” Combette says. “We can have our own contemporary design language that’s in dialogue with tradition.”
With this stool, Quito designer Ángeles Ortiz reinterpreted the IKEA Frosta Stool, which is a reproduction of Alvar Aalto’s seminal Stool 60. The design, which incorporates organically formed glass appendages, riffs on notions of appropriation and adaptation, if not also a sense of resourcefulness.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
JARRA
162 | Atelier de Cerámica For delicate pottery in pastel and light, earthy hues, look to this Quito studio’s line of cups, dishes, and kitchenware. Curved forms subtly distorted give these pieces a playful but sophisticated vibe.
“Quito is a city with a lot of constantly transforming energy, and many of the ideas that young design teams are generating are aimed toward seeking the common good.” MARIE COMBETTE, LA CABINA DE LA CURIOSIDAD
CONSOLA MARÍA
Lomé This elegantly asymmetrical console is produced by Quito studio Lomé using precise woodworking techniques. We like how its off-balance shape and crisscrossing lower braces add a touch of character to an otherwise clean profile.
For Flores and Combette, a chapel turned brewery near a busy bus junction and traditional market encapsulates Quito’s lively scene. “Young people get together at Bandido Brewing, and a lot of similar places are popping up around the city,” Flores says.
PHOTOS: COURTESY THE RESPECTIVE COMPANIES
Highlight Color on This Page: Benjamin Moore Chestertown Buff (HC-9)
BOA DUO
Mathieu de Genot Quito designer Mathieu de Genot is drawn to classical furniture styles but still has some fun with eclectic finishes. This chair’s Doric form can be covered in a variety of colorful, complexly patterned textiles.
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
29
L AGOS, N I GE RI A
ILLUSTRATIONS BY | @OJIMA.ABALAKA OJIMA ABALAKA
YASMIN STOOLS
Obida Obioha Made of local iroko wood, the Yasmin Stool is a contemporary take on a classic. “Obida Obioha is a fashion designer and furniture maker who puts a contemporary twist on this vernacular object from the Ibo culture,” Oshinowo says. “Many of the designs coming out of Lagos that I find interesting focus on materiality.”
HANDLE BOWL, MORTAR + PESTLE 2, AND MASAI LONG SPOON
Då Brand These kitchen utensils are key elements of Då Brand’s Raw Urban collection. “Designer Olubunmi Adeyemi believes in taking things back to their simplest forms,” Oshinowo says. “His mortar and pestle sets, spoons, and chopping boards are clean and distinct.”
IGBAKO
Studio Lani With this hand-carved lamp, Studio Lani reinterprets the visual and tactile vocabulary of traditional igbako serving utensils. “Designer Lani Adeoye works with local artisans to create very technically accomplished pieces,” Oshinowo says.
Tosin Oshinowo For Tosin Oshinowo, founder and director of Lagos-based architecture firm cmDesign Atelier, the common thread among the city’s most exciting designers is that their creations celebrate Nigerian heritage and maintain “a truth to materiality.” While Nigeria’s economy is the largest in Africa—with an established film industry and fashion scene— the country’s manufacturing sector isn’t as robust, which presents a hurdle for many product designers. “You have to create from the bottom up, because often what you’re looking for doesn’t exist in this environment,” she says. “The irony is that it really pushes the opportunity to be creative.”
30
When it comes to using local resources, the Lagos-born, London-educated architect and designer leads by example. Oshinowo’s Ilé Ilà furniture line, which celebrates her Yoruba heritage through hand-loomed creations, uses Nigerian teak and traditional asò-oké textiles for the armchairs in the Àdùnní collection. “In this part of the world, we’ve been brought up thinking that things that were local were not terribly exciting,” Oshinowo says. “But there’s a generation of Nigerians who are now growing up in a place where their own creativity is being appreciated.” Some of the individuals at the forefront of this renaissance include Nifemi Marcus-Bello,
Obida Obioha, and Olubunmi Adeyemi, who, like Oshinowo, were born in Nigeria and studied abroad and have since set up shop in Lagos. “Because of his [well-connected professional] background, Nifemi probably has the opportunity to get things done internationally, but he’s made a very conscious effort to have his designs made in Nigeria,” Oshinowo explains. Oshinowo cites Rele Gallery and the Temple Muse concept shop as two spaces in Lagos that have been “very intentional” about showcasing young Nigerian artists’ and designers’ work. “The entrepreneurial creative spirit is alive and well in my city,” she says.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
Rele Gallery exhibits works by emerging and established artists across the African diaspora in a building designed by Nigerian architect Papa Omotayo. “The founder, Adenrele Sonariwo, has been very instrumental in pushing a set of young contemporary artists’ work,” says Oshinowo. Highlight Color on This Page: Benjamin Moore Rosy Peach (2089-20)
“It’s exciting to be able to celebrate your culture and create pieces using local materials within that context. Hopefully it will help a generation of Nigerians to find their voice and be proud of where they’re from.” TOSIN OSHINOWO, CMDESIGN ATELIER
SELAH LAMP 1.0
Nmbello Studio
PHOTOS: COURTESY THE RESPECTIVE COMPANIES
Nifemi Bello of Nmbello Studio took advantage of manufacturing capabilities available in Lagos for the production of this lamp. It is made by a company that typically fabricates metal casings for electrical power generators. “What’s beautiful about Nifemi’s approach is that he makes an effort to produce his designs solely in Nigeria,” Oshinowo says.
ÀDÙNNÍ COLLECTION
Ilé Ilà The Àdùnní Collection by Oshinowo’s Ilé Ilà brand reflects her attention to clean lines, geometry, and angles, as well as local design history. “This chair incorporates fabric normally used in traditional dress,” she says. “Using it as upholstery is something new that both honors my culture and finds a contemporary purpose for this asò-oké fashion.”
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
31
HO CH I M I N H CIT Y, VI ETNAM
ILLUSTRATIONS BY | @XNHAN00 THANH NHÀN
Tay mo’ Amateurs “This coffee company was founded by two young designers who decided to pick up and settle down in the Đà La.t forests [in Vietnam’s central highlands],” Le says. “They built wooden cabins with their own hands from which they run a beanto-cup farm and cafe.” The duo also make T-shirts dyed with persimmons that grow in their garden and furniture from wood sourced nearby.
Tuan Le Built on centuries-old craft traditions such as lacquerware, silk weaving, and ceramics, with remnants of a colonial and warridden past, Ho Chi Minh City could easily be defined by its complicated history. But a community of young creatives is carving out a new identity for the city. One is Tuan Le, founder of The Lab, a multidisciplinary design studio. Born in Vietnam and raised in Los Angeles, Le has lived everywhere from San Francisco to Dubai and Tokyo— but in 2013, he repatriated to set down some roots. “There are a lot of people in Saigon who, like me, came back from abroad,” Le says. “Previously, Vietnamese
32
culture had been put on the back burner because the country was trying to globalize. Now, everybody wants to rediscover their roots—I think that’s why the city has a great design scene right now.” Le cites the Pha.m Viê´t Chánh neighborhood in the Bình Tha.nh district as one of the city’s most dynamic areas. Neighboring Districts 2 and 3 are also quickly developing creative enclaves. “Tons of bars, cafes, and studios are opening up,” Le says, “and young designers are organizing into little cliques, or ‘houses.’ There’s a crew called 42 the Hood with local fashion designers and models. They just opened their own concept store
and cafe called OBJoff, where they brought in their ceramicist, sculptor, and painter friends.” On a typical night out (before the pandemic), you could find the city’s young designers and artists at Que by Kaarem, a pop-up hosted by its namesake New York– and Ho Chi Minh– based fashion designer in a small bar above his studio. “When he does a pop-up, everybody will come through,” Le says. “It’s a very narrow building in an alley, and the upstairs area looks out over a bridge with highway traffic. While people hang out, you can see the trucks passing by. That whole scene is like a microcosm of Saigon.”
Hey Camel Ceramics This studio (and teaching facility) in District 3 produces objects animated by Southeast Asian traditions, myths, and ceremonies. “Leandro Marcelino makes striking vases and planters that are both rough in texture and organic in shape,” Le says. “He and his team draw inspiration from daily life in Vietnam.”
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
STILT ARMCHAIR
District Eight District Eight is a Ho Chi Minh City brand known for its well-made contemporary furnishings. The Stilt Collection was developed with Milan-based Vietnamese designer Toan Nguyen. “District Eight is one of the largest furniture makers in Vietnam and has a global reach,” Le says.
“Everyone in Ho Chi Minh City’s design community helps each other. There isn’t a lot of money going around for the younger creatives, so they band together.” TUAN LE, THE LAB
RONG DAYBED
Tomas Tran “Tomas Tran is a former Kengo Kuma architect and California College of the Arts alum,” Le says. “His Rong Daybed has a low stance with an armrest that evokes traditional Vietnamese rooftops.” Tran and Le often collaborate under the umbrella of the latter’s practice, The Lab.
Ho Chi Minh City’s young creatives at the Bình Tha.nh home-turned-studio for a pop-up series hosted by fashion designer Kaarem. The events are tied to a residency program that hosts Vietnamese craft-oriented designers, artists, and makers in the brick-andmortar space.
PHOTOS: COURTESY THE RESPECTIVE COMPANIES
Highlight Color on This Page: Benjamin Moore Potter’s Clay (1221)
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
33
AT L A N TA , USA
ILLUSTRATIONS BY | @SARAH_NEUBURGER SARAH NEUBURGER
BLUE PORCELAIN
Charlotte Smith Studios “Charlotte Smith’s ceramics are minimal and beautiful,” Cherry says. “The cups are the perfect size and shape for tea drinkers like me.”
LUCCA HAND-TUFTED MAZE RUG
Maurice Cherry Since he moved from Selma, Alabama, to Atlanta more than two decades ago, Maurice Cherry, the founder of Lunch, a multidisciplinary creative studio, has watched the city’s design community navigate an evolving landscape. “Atlanta is a city that tries to reinvent itself every seven to ten years,” says Cherry, whose award-winning podcast Revision Path features Black designers, developers, and other creatives from around the world. That’s not to say Atlanta doesn’t have an established foundation. Young talent streams in through universities like the Georgia Institute of Technology and up from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and
34
each year the city hosts the Atlanta Design Festival. It’s also home to the Museum of Design Atlanta, the Southeast’s only dedicated design museum. “We also have a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, so you have this very strong Black culture,” Cherry says. “But the city itself is extremely spread out, so a lot of the things that make Atlanta unique from a design perspective exist in little enclaves.” In areas like Peachtree Hills and Buckhead, you’ll primarily find high-end showrooms like the Atlanta Decorative Arts Center. But in neighborhoods like Castleberry Hill and West Midtown, former warehouses are
Kevin Francis Design
now art galleries and studios for the city’s up-and-coming furniture makers, ceramicists, and other designers. The Design Within Reach and Switch Modern showrooms—both in West Midtown—cater to consumers of contemporary European furniture, while at smaller galleries like Kai Lin Art, MINT, and The Gallery by Wish, installations by local sculptors rub elbows with works by self-taught street artists. “Atlanta is a mix of high brow and low brow. It’s country. It’s rock. It’s hip hop,” Cherry says. “You could say the city is the pot, but there’s not a lot of melting. The mix of ingredients doesn’t necessarily make sense, but it tastes good.”
This wool–and–bamboo silk rug was inspired by the labyrinth in the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca, Italy. “Kevin Francis Design’s rug could go well in pretty much any living space,” Cherry says. “The mix of lines and circles makes it just varied enough to keep it from being too simple.”
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
SOLID WOOD OSTERIA
Marco Bogazzi
HILLOCK
Skylar Morgan
PHOTOS: COURTESY THE RESPECTIVE COMPANIES
“Skylar Morgan’s philosophy of ‘build what you love, and love what you build’ resonates with me,” Cherry says. “The company’s furnishings command such presence. It has a midcentury sensibility with a touch of contemporary flair.” For example, the Hillock armoire is produced using a repeated tambouresque pattern made of half-moon sinker cypress dowels.
The Solid Wood Osteria chair reflects the craft-minded designer’s attention to high-touch moments, tactile joy, and use of high-quality materials. The angular walnut seat is produced using precise joinery and carefully proportioned components.
“Atlanta’s metropolitan area is extremely spread out—the type of design you’ll see in the city is really going to depend on which neighborhood you visit.” MAURICE CHERRY, LUNCH
Little Five Points is a small enclave known for its mix of independently owned vintage shops, record stores, and restaurants, as well as abundant street art. “I think the neighborhood encompasses a lot of what makes the city unique— there’s just a free-spirited, creative vibe,” Cherry says. Highlight Color on This Page: Benjamin Moore Gray Cashmere (2138-60)
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
35
AT H E NS, GRE E CE
ILLUSTRATIONS BY | @FOTINITIKKOUILLUSTRATION FOTINI TIKKOU
HUNKY DORY
Objects of Common Interest Comprising 21 commercially sourced acrylic LED ring lights and a stepped stainless-steel structure, this lamp by New York– and Athens–based practice Objects of Common Interest plays with the formal possibilities of ready-made industrial materials.
BENT HALF TUBE BRONZE CHAIR
Voukenas Petrides Created using cast and patinated bronze, furniture designer Andreas Voukenas and architect Steven Petrides’s amorphous chair has an anthropomorphic quality. The effect can be attributed to the practice’s tireless tinkering. “The pair work in a tiny studio producing sculptures all day long,” Michael says. “What’s special about their approach is that they’re able to find function in these pieces.”
Stamos Michael Athens is perhaps best known for its ruins—from the dilapidated remnants of ancient Greek civilizations to buildings left empty by the 2009 economic collapse. But new life is taking hold as the next generation of artists and designers transforms once derelict spaces into cafes, bars, art galleries, and, maybe most important, studios. Stamos Michael—an interior architect, furniture designer, and cofounder of Athens’s artist-run Grace gallery—explains that the city’s low rents have attracted emerging creatives from within Greece and abroad. “There are many empty spaces that can easily be transformed into studios,” Michael says.
36
“Students are coming from European universities to practice their craft. The ability to have an affordable studio is crucial for young artists and designers, and it’s very easy to do here.” The designer points to Rodeo Gallery and Carwan Gallery as two international exhibition spaces that have solidified the city’s growing design scene in recent years. Both galleries occupy formerly abandoned warehouses in the Port of Piraeus. Founded in Istanbul, Rodeo Gallery opened in 2018 in an old tobacco factory, while Carwan Gallery relocated from Beirut last September to a 19th-century factory. Michael—who recently turned a wrecked 1930s residence in the
Philopappou Hill area into the guesthouse–cum–exhibition space Esperinos—is one of many upand-coming Athens designers focused on discarded and repurposed objects. “Kostas Lambridis’s work uses a mix of raw materials that relate to the Athenian industrialized landscape,” says Michael, who also calls out Savvas Laz, a Greek designer creating nontraditional furnishings from everyday products and found items. In October, the first-ever Athens Design Week will be held in the millennia-old capital. “It’ll be the first time the city’s design community will officially come together,” Michael says. “It’s going to be spectacular.”
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
“There’s a patchwork of architectural styles in Athens due to the highdevelopment years. It gives you a lot of freedom as a designer because you’re like, ‘Okay, I can do whatever I want.’” STAMOS MICHAEL, GRACE
HOLY YOGHURT
MOMMSENSTRASSE
Greece Is for Lovers
Ilias Lefas
“Like a lot of young designers living and working in Athens these days, Greece Is for Lovers likes to play with irony,” Michael says. These wooden yogurt containers are inspired by the corrugated cow shed roofs at The Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner near Anatoli, Greece.
Athens cabinetmaker Ilias Lefas has made a name for himself creating unique furnishings for interiors throughout Europe. The blue lacquered Mommsenstrasse table was produced as a DJ stand and features a faceted cast bronze top with hidden compartments.
TRASHFORMERS
Savvas Laz
PHOTOS: COURTESY THE RESPECTIVE COMPANIES
Trashformers is an ongoing sculptural project by designer Savvas Laz that addresses the seemingly insurmountable global waste crisis. The foam amalgams riff on furniture typologies by combining various bits of upcycled packaging. The works stand as totems for our consumer society.
In recent years, formerly abandoned buildings in Athens have become hotbeds for local creativity as young designers from Greece and abroad transform the unused spaces into affordable galleries and studios. Highlight Color on This Page: Benjamin Moore Color of the Year 2021, Aegean Teal (2136-40)
37
conversation
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @JOONEYWOODWARD
Riya Patel
Jooney Woodward Johannesburg firm Counterspace, led by Sumayya Vally, created a collage of disparate architectural elements from around the British capital for this year’s Serpentine Pavilion. “The idea is to present diverse voices and places within London, spaces of gathering, past and present,” says Vally.
This year’s Serpentine Pavilion is looking beyond its leafy spot in Kensington Gardens, in one of London’s most exclusive neighborhoods, to present a wider view of the city. The 20th edition of the hotly anticipated annual architectural pop-up is under the wing of Johannesburg design practice Counterspace, directed by Sumayya Vally. The studio’s creation is an amalgam of built forms found in some of London’s gathering spaces with rich stories to tell about Black culture, migrant communities, and fading traditions, places like the Four Aces Club, 38
one of the first venues to play Black music in the United Kingdom, and the East London Mosque, one of the first in the country to be allowed to use loudspeakers to broadcast calls to prayer. Under a uniting circular roof, wide pillars frame a jumble of blocks and small seating platforms modeled on architectural elements from the studio’s sites of interest. It’s a jarring mix of hybrid forms finished in contrasting microcement and cork textures. If it sounds chaotic, that’s the point. Vally’s young, research-based
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
ILLUSTRATION: SAM KERR
The South African designer builds a monument to London’s neighborhood gathering places.
Viewrail FLIGHT floating stairs say a lot about your love of openness and elegance. From design to installation, we make it easy to make your statement.
FREE Design Starter Kit Includes material samples and our Viewrail FLIGHT Buyer’s Guide to help you get started.
Order yours today by visiting www.viewrail.com/Dwell
Delivering the Future of Stairs & Railing
conversation
“ Ritual, atmosphere, and even forms of dress are essential parts of how a space is constructed.”” SUMAYYA VALLY
studio works by mapping the life of a city through such places, photographing them, documenting demographics, and collecting hyperlocal artifacts. The pavilion’s design suggests London’s complexity and the friction of paths crossing and crashing into one another. Four smaller Fragments of the Pavilion have also been temporarily installed in locations that inspired Vally’s design to honor those communities. Intended for 2020, Counterspace’s pavilion was delayed a year by the pandemic. Vally had to keep her collaborations stoked from afar, but she’s excited to now be back in London, where she tells us about the significance of the pavilion in more detail. This pavilion is more of an ongoing event than a finished built work. Can you explain how that ties into how you see architecture? Architecture is about constructing spaces and situations. Of course, that involves the built realm, but there are other ways to understand it, too. Ritual, atmosphere, and even forms of dress are essential parts of how a space is constructed. I’ve always been really interested in how we can work with those other ingredients and in the construction of situations beyond just what is built. But thinking of my own Indian heritage, or South Africa, or the Global South generally, many ways of being have been ravaged. Many traditions have not been allowed to continue in the directions they may have taken because of others that were imposed. So I imagine how they can reemerge, alongside the architecture that we have now, as something more hybrid that brings together lots of influences. I see Johannesburg as a place where that happens without architects, and I’m interested in what architects can do with that going forward.
In addition to designing the physical structure, Vally used the pavilion commission to establish grants for local creators. “The program will
40
support young artists who are working in communities at the intersection of art and ecology, social justice, archival research, and so on,” she says.
What can other countries learn from the specifics of Johannesburg and the area that you’ve been working in? I’m someone very rooted in Joburg. Coming to London and thinking about what my position is and what I have to say about it has been challenging. But something that Joburg has given me is a way to read
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
EXPERIENCE MODERN FIRE | KOMODO
Discover our collection of modern outdoor fire pits at:
paloform.com
888.823.8883 | info@paloform.com
conversation
Folded Skies (left and above), a set of sculptures created by Counterspace in 2018, was inspired by Johannesburg sunsets. In 2019, the firm’s Conversation Rooms (below), at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Johannesburg, used objects and choreography to reimagine architecture pedagogy.
things that are happening beneath the surface of the city. So much happens despite the formal city, but architects have been trained to be blind to that. In most schools we study architecture in a very traditional sense, and when we leave and look around, we see only the city’s formal fabric. In London my research was about finding places that had been erased or don’t exist anymore. Because when those neighborhoods were developed or gentrified, these small hole-in-the-wall or ordinary places were not understood as important community centers. Places did not develop with them; they developed despite them. That’s something I encounter in Joburg all the time—and, because of our history, often in a particularly violent way. I think that phenomenon exists in most cities.
A Counterspace design for a mosque in the Johannesburg suburb of Brixton (above) added a colonnade to a building that had originally been a Dutch Reformed church. A proposal for a Pan-African table (right) imagines a space where people from across the continent can gather as a community.
42
Do you think institutions are finally recognizing more voices? Or do you think they are paying lip service to the idea, given the year we’ve had talking about race and inequality? I’ve thought about this so much. I’m so moved that my practice was chosen before the moment of reckoning that we’ve had. I’ve really been taken by how many of the ideas the Serpentine has acted on. It’s been a privilege to become part of something different that this commission has brought. Of course, there is a lot of pressure on institutions to be seen to be speaking from diverse perspectives. I think it’s something we should be aware of in general. Being in this position now, you also just have to take the opportunity to hold what this moment is bringing. And move that work forward into the future.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
IMAGES: COURTESY COUNTERSPACE
Were there any specific places you were moved by in the course of your research? I looked at spaces like the headquarters of the West Indian Gazette, which Claudia Jones founded in Brixton above a record shop, and the Mangrove, a West Indian restaurant that I think has become a lot more known because of artist/director Steve McQueen’s 2020 BBC series Small Axe. It was the unofficial headquarters for the Notting Hill Carnival and for so many movements.
NEXT GENERATION FOLDING GLASS WALL NW Aluminum 840
Heights up to 11’ 6” — unlimited width openings possible
NW Aluminum 840 brands a new level of aesthetics featuring a streamlined
framed bifold door
appearance with minimal exposed hardware. nanawall.com/products/nw-aluminum-840
Explore our opening glass wall product families: Folding
Sliding
Frameless
Minimal Sliding
Four sill options with high heel resistant feature Inswing or outswing configurations, open corner designs
Showrooms Nationwide Visit NanaWall.com 800 873 5673 inquiries@nanawall.com
studio
Patrick Tighe From his office in Los Angeles, the architect challenges ideas about how affordable housing should look. 44
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @YERINMOK
Ian Volner
Ye Rin Mok
Since as far back as the days of Garbo, Bogey, and the old Red Car trolley line, affordable housing in Los Angeles has typically meant one thing: new houses, most likely built in some previously undeveloped patch of dust and chaparral. There have always been apartments, of course—in particular the midcentury “dingbat” type, hoisted atop thin pilotis— and here and there a smattering of postwar public housing projects. Yet by and large, the area has remained the poster child for all-American sprawl, countering rising real estate costs by letting private developers follow the freeways, littering single-family homes along the way. Those days are over. “There are so many incentives at this point for developers to build affordable multiunit projects,” says L.A. architect Patrick Tighe. With its geographical expansion slowing, and with
studio
once low-rent neighborhoods rapidly gentrifying, the city is intensifying efforts to create subsidized apartment buildings wherever room can be found to put them. The trajectory of Tighe’s practice is symptomatic of this shift. While the firm still designs some single-family homes and other types of projects, Tighe Architecture has also focused on higherdensity housing, from multifamily to accessory dwelling units. Over the last decade, it has been increasingly involved in the affordable sector, designing buildings in which all or a portion of the units are available at below-market rates. “We don’t discriminate between a wealthy client and a nonprofit,” Tighe says. As L.A. looks to build a more equitable future, Tighe and company are showing what that future could be. Tighe’s CV reads like a checklist of
Tighe’s 50,000-square-foot La Brea project in West Hollywood provides 32 apartments designed to help people who formerly lacked housing as they transition back to domestic life. Its semi-enclosed balconies are
shielded by a dramatic lattice that opens into flowing ribbons at the building’s southeast corner. “We had this idea of creating spaces connected to the city and to the street, but also protected and safe,” Tighe says.
Architect Patrick Tighe (above left) displays models for some of his higher-density housing projects in his L.A. studio. Though his practice spans from mixed-use and commercial developments to high-end single-family homes and co-living communities, his portfolio has always included affordable housing.
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
45
studio
Also in West Hollywood, Tighe’s Sierra Bonita development (below) features 42 affordable one-bedroom units. The fivestory structure wears its sense of social mission on its sleeve, with a large photovoltaic array creeping ivy-like up the western
facade and over the top, where it forms a sunshade for the terraces on the roof. “It also had the first graywater system in the city,” Tighe says. The cyclical plumbing system greatly reduces Sierra Bonita’s dependence on the region’s overtaxed resources.
West Coast design-world standbys: Trained at UCLA, he apprenticed briefly with Frank Gehry before spending seven years under Thom Mayne at Morphosis. Since then, his work has been in exhibitions at L.A. MOCA and the A+D Museum; he’s taught at SCI-Arc and currently holds a teaching position at USC. Perhaps most important, as the architect says, “I really evolved around the art world.” Since his student days in the 1990s and continuing with commissions for galleries and live/ work spaces for local creative professionals, Tighe has maintained a connection to the city’s broader cultural scene. The result is a portfolio that exudes an unmistakably Angeleno air—that giddy-making whiff of methane, jasmine, and sawdust. The wild formal invention and raw materiality that give Tighe Architecture’s work its ineluctable L.A.-ness furnish a crucial response to a pressing question: What does it mean to build affordable housing in the city today? Although the firm has completed multiple projects that feature some low-cost set-asides (as per L.A.’s recent inclusionary housing ordinance), one of Tighe’s early forays into 100-percent-affordable work came in 2010, with the sustainably built Sierra Bonita
“ We don’t discriminate between a wealthy client and a nonprofit.”” PATRICK TIGHE, ARCHITECT
46
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
studio
development in West Hollywood. The project created 42 one-bedroom apartments for low-income tenants with disabilities. Five years later and only a few blocks away, Tighe returned to the fully subsidized arena with a commission for La Brea, a 50,000-square-foot complex with an equally compelling civic brief. The 32 apartments are for formerly homeless LGBTQ youth (as well as others living with disabilities or HIV/AIDS), with indoor/outdoor settings meant to help them readjust to domestic life. The firm’s next all-affordable project, Pacific Landing, opening later this year not far from the beach in Santa Monica, will offer 37 studios on up to two-bedroom units to low- and moderate-income renters. Without making any overt distinctions
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
between its private-sector and subsidized work, Tighe Architecture’s ecologically sound, contextually attuned affordable buildings give L.A. a new and alluring image of itself, one rooted in a sense of place but tempered by a commitment to inclusive and sustainable urbanism. As the firm embarks on more ambitious projects in the below-market-rate sphere (including one major commission, in Watts, that will remake several contiguous blocks in a former industrial district), Tighe says he looks at every project as an artistic opportunity, imbuing each with the ingenuity, grit, and pizzazz of the creative milieu he’s been a part of for 30 years: “That, for me, is the ground from which to work.”
Tighe and his team of 14 work in a former warehouse (opposite, bottom) just east of the Culver City Arts District. The space is filled with sketches and models (above), including for Pacific Landing, his next affordable housing project. Opening this winter, the complex will have 37 studio to two-bedroom apartments for low- and moderate-income renters near the beach in otherwise-pricey Santa Monica.
47
renovation
Architect Ling Hao brought new life to writer Elwin Chan’s apartment in Singapore’s Tiong Bahru neighborhood, an area known for modernist housing built in the mid-20th century. Ling made subtle adjustments to turn the existing utilitarian interior (inset) into a bright and airy home.
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @FABIAN_ONG_AR
Luo Jingmei
Fabian Ong
Character Study
A writer’s Singapore apartment gets a breezy refresh that shows off its original details.
48
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
Dwell x Concrete Collaborative
PHOTOS: DWELL CREATIVE SERVICES
We’ve joined forces to create a new collection of tiles inspired by surfing.
Dwell and Concrete Collaborative drew on our shared California roots to create a multipurpose line of handcrafted encaustic patterned tiles. Inspired by surf culture and classic surfboard shapes, they come in five versatile styles and colors ranging from cool blue to earth tones for endless eye-catching patterns. Check them out at dwell.com/ concretecollaborative.
renovation
When writer Elwin Chan decided to move out of his family home in Serangoon North, a residential section of Singapore filled with high-rises, he was seeking a stronger sense of community and street life. He was drawn to Tiong Bahru, an area closer to the center of the city that features low-rise Art Deco and International Style blocks built in the 1930s and ’40s. Though gentrification has transformed many of Tiong Bahru’s mom-and-pop shops into chic cafes, the area’s historic architecture preserves its charm. “I like neighborhoods with character,” Elwin says. “I like that I can see people strolling past and watch bustling mornings fade to quiet, lazy afternoons.”
50
Elwin was delighted to find an apartment in a building dating to 1948 with many vintage features intact. There was plenty of appeal in its green terrazzo and mosaic floors, and Elwin liked how glass louvered windows, transom screens above doors and interior walls, and two balconies let ample light and cooling breezes flow through the space. Still, the apartment needed work. Through a friend, Elwin got in touch with architect Ling Hao, who creates idiosyncratic, nature-attuned spaces using simple materials. When Ling visited the apartment, he found the flexible existing layout refreshing compared to those of newer, compartmentalized dwellings. “I was
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
renovation
“ The rear balcony looks out to willow trees. I can see butterflies and birds nesting, and sometimes even hornbills.”” ELWIN CHAN, RESIDENT
Ling and Elwin preserved aspects of the existing space (inset, opposite) that let light and air travel through the apartment. “A lot of attention had been given to living well in the tropics,” Elwin says of the original
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
design. The architect took out walls to accentuate the feeling of openness in the living room, now casually furnished with a Muji bench and a chair from Ton (opposite). The frosted glass-fronted cabinet
in the same room (top) contains shoes and bags on the side by the entrance and tableware nearer to the kitchen. A metal screen loosely divides the bathroom from the back balcony (above left and right).
51
renovation
The front balcony lets light and air into the library, where an AJ table lamp from Louis Poulsen adds extra illumination when Elwin is at his desk.
52
Tiong Bahru Apartment ARCHITECT LOCATION
A B C D E F G H
N
Linghao Architects Singapore
Entrance Living/Dining Area Kitchen Bathroom Laundry Balcony Bedroom Library
F E C D G
B
A
H
F ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT
thrilled with how I could stroll around the flat continuously, as each room had at least two doors,” he remembers. “Ambling about the apartment is akin to moving with the airflow.” In his renovation, Ling created a rustic but comfortable space loosely defined by porous partitions. He left many features untouched, and any changes he made were inspired by the existing spatial rhythms and raw material expression. He removed a wall between the living room and kitchen so that, upon entering, one sees clear through the apartment to the green vista beyond the rear balcony. In the bathroom, he added new flooring and replaced a wall with a sinuous, expanded metal mesh screen. New polished concrete counters perch on brick stems in the kitchen, while plywood cabinetry and shelves throughout the home complement its unpretentious personality. This setting is perfect for Elwin’s easy, casual way of living with the environment and his objects. He recently shifted his writing desk to the greenery-lined rear balcony and the dining table to the library, which accommodates intimate gatherings next to his books and his cello. “And because the apartment is so open,” he says, “I get to feel like part of the neighborhood, which inspires my work and everyday life.”
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
Elegant architecture Precision fabrication Realized on your site — anywhere
Home as Sanctuary
Whether it’s a retreat in the wilderness, a smalltown getaway, or a comfortable place in the city, our unique creative process and prefab system streamline the design, building and delivery of your home. Contact us to discuss how you want to live.
toll free | 877-710-2518 info@turkeldesign.com www.turkeldesign.com
Turkel. This way home.
interiors
Into the Blue With an eye-popping stair, two Argentinian designers put a contemporary twist on a historic apartment.
54
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @JAVIERAGUSTINROJAS
Vanessa Bell
Javier Agustín Rojas
Ezequiel Adelmo Manasseri and María Sol Depetris had been searching for three years when they finally found their future apartment. Occupying the full second floor and an attic in one of Rosario, Argentina’s many “French-style” buildings—Haussmann-esque constructions dating from the early 20th century—the space had most recently housed an accounting firm. The walls were painted a shabby pastel yellow, but it still had many original plaster details and a “casa chorizo” layout, a succession of rooms that open to an exterior gallery. The young couple, cofounders of both the architecture studio Manasseri Depetris and furniture brand Citrino, knew they had come across something special. That was in 2015. For the first four years that they lived there, Eze and Sol used the 1,600-square-foot space as they found it. They set up a living area, dining room, kitchen, and bedroom on the lower floor
interiors
and used the attic as their studio and for storage. But the floor plan had its limitations—when they invited friends over each week to cook tortilla together in the kitchen, anyone wanting to access the bathroom either had to cut through their bedroom or first venture outside. “We personally didn’t mind, but realized that it was impractical,” Sol says. “We had to rethink the bedroom and create a private space.” So they embarked on a renovation, starting by turning the attic into an en suite bedroom. The couple renovated the apartment over the course of a year or so, covering the walls with a stripped-down, whitedout palette punctuated by bursts of color courtesy of furniture they designed. Their primary objective was to preserve the spirit of the property, and they sought out artisans, many retired, who had the nearforgotten skills to restore ceiling roses and other ornamental plaster features. From
Designers Ezequiel Adelmo Manasseri and María Sol Depetris turned the second floor and attic of a 1906 four-story “French-style” building in Rosario, Argentina, into an apartment that combines historic details with contemporary pieces from their furniture company, Citrino. Original doors
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
(opposite, left) lead from a foyer into the main living area. In the office (opposite, right), the table— a prototype they hope to put into production—was inspired by a Sol LeWitt work. An outdoor gallery (above) connects the living spaces. The kitchen (right) pairs dark terrazzo with stainless steel.
55
interiors
The “blue room” (below) gets its name from the storage tower and daybed Sol and Eze designed for it. “We wanted the objects in the apartment to interplay and work in relation to each other—as if they were floating together in space,” Eze says. A new stair wrapped in a metal cocoon and painted the same bright shade (left) leads up to the attic they converted into the primary bedroom.
the foyer, original wooden doors give one the option of stepping into an office, living room, or dining room toward the front of the building or out to the gallery. The kitchen is still the center point of the home, a place to cook and congregate around a circular four-and-a-half-footwide terrazzo island with an integrated electric range. Between there and the original bathroom, the former bedroom is now the “blue room” (officially the library). It gets its name from a Memphis-inflected daybed and a tall storage tower, both designed by Sol and Eze. It’s a flexible space that could be partitioned into another bedroom if the couple decide to have a second child. Their daughter, Helena, now 13 months old, was born shortly after the renovation was completed and has her own room adjacent to the bath. The most striking addition is a new stair enclosure protruding out into the gallery and leading from the library up to the studio-turned-bedroom. It was 56
“These apartments are considered impractical because they have these external corridors to access different rooms—and usually only one bathroom. Yet we felt it had so much potential.” EZEQUIEL ADELMO MANASSERI, DESIGNER AND RESIDENT
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
interiors
N
Rosario Apartment ARCHITECT LOCATION
Manasseri Depetris Rosario, Argentina
D
C
E
F G H
A B
I Main Level
G
A B C D E
Entrance Office Living Area Dining Area Kitchen
58
F G H I
I
Library Bathroom Laundry Bedroom
Attic
fabricated from malleable metal-alloy panels, molded, erected, and spray painted in situ. Eze laughs, explaining that they used a car spray paint color called Gran Prix, the closest they could get to International Klein Blue while avoiding the headache of creating the formula themselves. On a recent visit for early evening drinks, two guests slowly ascended in the building’s manually operated antique elevator, complete with its original seat, to encounter a brightly illuminated residence with strikingly high ceilings. Its French-style features contrasted with the bright colors of Sol and Eze’s furniture, copious houseplants, and contemporary artworks. “We felt as if we were curators of a large gallery,” says Sol of bringing objects into the space. “We wanted our own designs to sit effortlessly alongside the art and the apartment’s original details.” With the perfect autumn breeze blowing in from open gallery doors, the resulting space felt as inviting as it was well composed.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT
Upstairs, the primary bedroom (above) is spartan, with just a bed and an antique wardrobe. The former studio’s rough walls and ceiling were left uncovered and painted white. In the downstairs bathroom (left), green terrazzo tile picks up on the muted stone finishes in the kitchen.
TELL THEM I MADE IT If you met 16-year-old Gulafsa as she appears in this picture – wearing a dress she made herself – you would encounter a bubbly high school student with a dream to be a fashion designer or a doctor. But Gulafsa almost missed her chance to go to school. When she was just 11 years old, GoodWeave found her working in a carpet factory in India. GoodWeave helped transition Gulafsa back to school and is providing support to continue her education. Gulafsa can now make her dreams come true. You can help other children make it in life too. Look for the GoodWeave® label on carpet and home textile products – your best assurance no child labor was used.
outside
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @BRYCEDUFFY
Stacey McLachlan
Bryce Duffy
High above Christina Lake in British Columbia, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed an idyllic retreat for Lori Hudson, her husband, and their two boys. The cabin’s exterior is clad in dark-stained western red cedar and fiber cement panels, and its cantilevered deck provides panoramic views.
A New Outlook An artist’s British Columbia cabin offers peace and perspective.
60
“I cannot imagine a life in which I am not creating objects in three-dimension. The unexamined life may or may not be worth living, but for me, life without a project is a shallow experience.” -Tom Moser
Tucked away in our Maine workshop, Tom Moser and his son Andy work in tandem to craft their artistic interpretations of the American, Maine, and other custom flags from solid North American hardwood. The flags are visual narratives of the evolution and history of countries, states, and people. Tom’s American flag started as a special edition piece and has grown into a platform that re-imagines these meaningful symbols into time-honored art.
FREEPORT, MAINE
BOSTON
WASHINGTON D.C.
SAN FRANCISCO
800.862.1973
THOSMOSER.COM
outside
“ It noses out of the forest just a little bit, like it’s peeking out of the trees.”” RAY CALABRO, ARCHITECT
Cabinetry maker Forest Designs used birch plywood to craft the U-shaped kitchen island (above). The Ziro floor tiles in Gris are from Navarti. In the living room (above right), a Stûv fireplace sits near Lori’s
Lori Hudson has probably painted Christina Lake a hundred times. “My kids tease me that it’s the only thing I ever paint,” she says. It’s true that there’s not much that could top the view from her easel, positioned for maximum waterfront exposure where two tall windows meet at the back of her family cabin. But should Lori ever feel compelled to move her canvas out to the patio, she’d find an equally worthy subject in the house itself. Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ) with Canadian firm Miller Mottola Calabro serving as architect of record, the wedge-shaped cabin seems to defy gravity ”2
favorite place to paint. “We made the southeast corner glass, because that’s where the best view is,” says BCJ principal Ray Calabro. A Vane Grand pendant by Tech Lighting hangs in one of the bedrooms (right).
as it cantilevers out from its rocky site. “There’s a feeling of floating in the trees above the surface of the lake,” says Kyle Phillips, project manager at BCJ. The ground floor holds the common areas, while the second story contains a bath and two bedrooms. A ladder leads to a third bedroom on the top level. From the road, the low-key, carbon-black form practically disappears into the forest, but to walk through the house is to move from darkness to light, pulled by the eastern wall of windows that frames the lake down below and the wilderness across the way. Privacy in the front, boundless nature in the back. Though this dreamy vacation home
was completed only last August by Ramm Custom Build, it was a long time coming. Lori, whose background is in early education, and her family have owned the land, along with a tiny on-site cabin, for a decade or so. “We were just drawn to the property,” she says—despite the fact that the steep, rocky landscape made actually spending time in the existing no-power, no-heat, no-water dwelling a challenge. “It wasn’t very accessible or usable,” says Lori. “Certainly not a luxury.” The new, 2,500-square-foot getaway, on the other hand? Pure bliss. The family (with their two Portuguese water dogs underfoot) gathers around the outdoor
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
The fire feature experience, refined. Explore our unique collection of modern fire features at lumacast.com
SCAN TO LEARN MORE
outside
dining table on sunny days. Black-framed doors slide out of sight to connect the kitchen and patio into one indoor/outdoor living area, covered by a slatted Douglas fir trellis. “The kitchen is sort of like the stage for the performance,” says Phillips. Should the weather turn, the U-shaped island bar can seat up to 12. On any given week in the summer, you’ll find the family gathered around the counter, playing cards. But even inside, the connection to the outdoors is unavoidable, between the organic material palette—birch plywood paneling brings an unfussy warmth, while large-format porcelain floor tiles on the main level are “like walking on suede,” says Lori—and the lakefront views. And then there’s the light, which pours in to illuminate a cozy built-in window seat and creates playful shadows in the stairwell. Whatever Lori paints next, it’s clear she’s living in a work of art.
The home is nestled in a stand of cedar, pine, and Douglas fir trees. The family relocated a smaller cabin to make room for their new retreat, and they plan to convert the original structure into a game room for the kids.
N
Boundary Point Cabin DESIGNER LOCATION
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson Christina Lake, British Columbia
First Floor
E C
D F
G
B
A H
A B C D E F G H I J K
Entrance Mudroom Pantry Kitchen/Dining Area Outdoor Shower Living Room Deck Patio Bedroom Powder Room Bathroom
Second Floor
J I
I K
Loft
DRONE PILOT: ADDISON RICKABY/TAMARACK MEDIA. ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT
I
64
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
®
Great Homes Happen By Design
Photo: Stillwater Mountain Connection Visit our website to view the Coastal Connection and Desert Connection home designs.
Where Luxury Meets Sustainability - Introducing the new Stillwater Connection Series. Three new ultra-modern homes designed to create a distinctive sense of place in tune with the environment. By leveraging the efficiencies of our prefabricated, systems-built method, we’re able to provide you with cost predictability, faster construction times and a sustainable build. From our free site evaluation to move-in-day, the Stillwater team is there to guide you through the entire process. Contact Us Today To Learn How We Can Help You Build Your Dream Home 800.691.7302 | info@stillwaterdwellings.com | www.stillwater-dwellings.com
dwellings
YEARS
66
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @STEPHANIEVELDMANPHOTOGRAPHY
Neo Maditla
Stephanie Veldman
IN THE M A K I NG
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
A Cape Town architect and her longtime friend first bonded over a shared aesthetic. More than a decade later, they put it into practice.
In a Cape Town suburb known for its views of Table Mountain, architect Liani Douglas transformed a rundown, 80-year-old cottage into a house for a her friend, Derek White, that embodies their shared design sensibilities. In the leafy neighborhood, the house announces itself with a pair of arched doorways at the front gate and the entry.
67
dwellings
Derek and his partner, Jean Banks, share the house with their two Spinone Italianos, Ben and Quinn. A Trumpet light from Dokter and Misses hangs next to the arched double doors at the home’s entrance (right), which is framed by brick that matches the patio. The doors lead into an expansive, openplan living/dining area (below), where the flue of a wood-burning stove runs upward through the double-height space.
68
On the east side (opposite), two large bay windows, their wood frames sandwiched between concrete, have hinged side panels that open to let in breezes. “The bay windows are like two eyes,” says Derek. “My favorite aspect of the house is at night when the lights are on, and they act like weird two-way mirrors. You can see it’s night outside, but they reflect the interior in a way that gives it a sense of being a completely different space.”
Derek White jokes that he was in his second year of university when he “started vetting architects” for his future home. “That’s when I met Liani—I don’t know if we would have been friends if we didn’t share a sense of aesthetics,” Derek says wryly as Liani Douglas listens in. But friends they became, and some 14 years later, when Derek came across a dilapidated, 80-year-old cottage in a spectacular location, he immediately called Douglas & Company, the architectural firm Douglas had founded with her husband, Jan. At the foot of Table Mountain, Cape Town’s Newlands Village is a picturesque, sloping suburb lush with greenery. Residents live along oak-lined streets and have access to the region’s natural splendor: Newlands Forest, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, and hiking trails up the mountain are all just beyond the front door. For Derek, a legal consultant, his partner, Jean Banks, a lawyer, and their two Spinone Italiano dogs, Ben and Quinn, the single-story cottage that they found there presented an opportunity. But aside from its prime location, the unloved, roughly 860-square-foot
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
69
dwellings
Derek and Jean enjoy cooking, and at times, they’ll use vegetables they grow on a shared garden plot not far from their house. A custom timber kitchen island features a matching set of stools made locally by James Mudge, and a countertop in dark stone echoes the backsplash (left). Douglas and Derek’s shared taste is on display in the dining area (opposite), with its mix of timber, steel, and slate. “Everything was selected to exude warmth and tactility and to offer splashes of color,” Douglas says. The solid oak table is also by Mudge, and the chairs are from South African furniture company Houtlander.
“From the slate floors to the stone countertops, to the wood, brick, steel, and glass—all of it felt like something I wanted to celebrate.” DEREK WHITE, RESIDENT
structure was in bad shape. “It was actually very depressing, and part of the appeal was the challenge of turning it into something else,” says Derek. A less appealing challenge in Newlands was obtaining approval to build or renovate on a heritage site saddled with strict codes, a process that took Douglas and the couple about a year in and of itself. Another challenge—this one a little more fun—was determining how to make the most of the lot. “Initially, it wasn’t clear to us what the solution was,” says Derek. “But we knew we wanted outdoor space around the house, especially for the dogs.” Douglas came back with plans for a holistic renovation: She would demolish ”0
the existing outbuildings to make room for adjacent gardens and gut the interiors of the cottage, preserving only the original perimeter walls and foundations as a starting point for the new residence. By adding a steel frame, she could expand upward to create a second level and a loft. “It was so obvious that this was the only way this should work,” Derek remembers. “It felt 100 percent right.” Atop the bones of the old bungalow is now a boxy, two-story residence that spans 1,453 square feet. Through the front gate, made of steel finished with red-oxide paint, and a twinning front door is a soaring, double-height living and dining area. Under a metal hip roof and between the new floor and the ceilings of the second
floor and loft—all made of South African pine—the steel frame acts like a skeleton to create the home’s voluminous public spaces and compartmentalize its private ones. Left visible throughout the house, the frame has the same color as the front gate. In fact, a kind of coding system guided Douglas’s choice of finishes: structural elements in red, timber joinery that complements the green slate floors, and utilitarian elements like lighting and work surfaces in black. From the center of the ground floor, which also includes a guest bedroom and bathroom, rises a wooden stair that winds around a single cross-laminated timber column at the center. It’s wrapped in a screen, also made of pine, that provides
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
71
72
dwellings
A staircase (opposite) winds up through the center of the house. Its structural spine is made of cross-laminated timber, while the screen that encloses it is made from slats of South African pine. “The timber screen separates the stair from the surrounding space but still allows
glimpses through,” says Douglas. “It recalls Japanese screens, especially at night when it lights up like a lantern.” A light well, cut into the side of the house that shares a wall with its neighbor, brings illumination and air into the primary bedroom (left) and bathroom (above).
continuous light and air as one ascends from the public spaces to the couple’s bedroom and bath on the second floor, and finally to the study on the loft level, which has a view of Table Mountain. The entire space has a sense of lightfilled expansiveness thanks to another puzzle that Douglas had to solve. Although the residence’s timber-framed bay windows catch a lot of the sun as it moves across the sky, Douglas had to reckon with the home’s west-facing wall, which is shared by a neighbor. So, she carved out space for a light well that rises through all three levels. Sitting in the living room drinking honeybush and rooibos tea, Derek explains the aesthetic bond formed with
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
73
Douglas early on: It’s all about elegantly understated finishes, a tight palette, and natural and locally sourced materials. “From the slate floors to the stone countertops, to the wood, brick, steel, and glass—all of that felt like something I wanted to celebrate,” says Derek. “Even the concrete. We left it raw, because I want to see that detailing.” With a bounty of windows on the streetfacing facade, the home takes on a magnificent glow at night. In the morning light, it tucks humbly into the street, overshadowed by Table Mountain in the distance. Reflecting on the result, the two friends agree: It’s the home they always knew they would build.
In the study on the home’s top level (left), a long window provides a panoramic view of Newlands Forest and Table Mountain. “The light in the morning is amazing, and the view of the mountain is incredible,” Derek says. Back on the ground level (opposite), Derek and the dogs bask in the warm sunlight by one
of the bay windows. Derek and Jean are keen supporters of local artists, and they have decorated the space with pieces by Banele Khoza, Conrad Botes, and Jeanne Gaigher. The living room lamp is by Douglas’s husband and firm partner, Jan, while the bentwood armchair and side tables are vintage finds. N
Upper Wheelan House ARCHITECT LOCATION
Douglas & Company Cape Town, South Africa
K J
E F C
D
F L
B
G
G
Loft
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT
I
A H
First Floor
74
Second Floor A B C D E F
Entrance Living Area Dining Area Kitchen Laundry Bathroom
G H I J K L
Bedroom Patio Parking Courtyard Rainwater Tank Study
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
75
dwellings
Designers Caroline and Sabri Farouki’s home in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans (opposite) is only 12.6 feet wide in the front and even narrower in the back. The skinny, modern box contrasts with the neighborhood’s reigning mix of styles, but it aims to fit in even as it sticks out. The roof height meets that of its neighbors’ second stories, and its big, black-framed Marvin Ultimate tilt/turn windows put a contemporary twist on a centuries-old ventilation strategy. Its Artisan V-Groove siding by James Hardie, with mitered corners and painted Narraganset Green—a deep peacock-emerald with tones of charcoal and slate—strikes a happy medium between subtropical color and chic contemporary minimalism.
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @DAYMONGA RDNER
Jenny Adams
Daymon Gardner
A Lot of Potential On a narrow site in New Orleans, an architect and a designer found a welcome challenge.
In a city famed for architecture and thousands of historic properties that range from colorful Creole cottages to Italianate manses, it was a lot strewn with gravel and patches of grass that caught Caroline and Sabri Farouki’s eye. “It was basically a large driveway,” says Caroline, laughing, about the 2,400-squarefoot parcel they purchased in the Lower Garden District in March of 2018. At the street front, it was a mere 18.6 feet wide. The skinny allocation further narrowed as you moved the 130 feet back to the anterior property line. “Empty lots in New Orleans are hard to come by, especially in coveted historic neighborhoods,” she says. “We’d been looking for about a year and a half. We like living small, and we put in an offer the first week we saw it.” Now, the couple have finished a 1,600-square-foot, two-story home on the site. Although the house is only 12.6 feet wide up front—with three-foot-wide side yards—and narrows to 10 feet wide in the back, a smart design manages an abundance of natural light, high ceilings, and ample storage. There are also a front balcony, a roof deck, and a backyard large enough for a trampoline. 76
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
77
dwellings
78
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
“ I studied architecture as an undergrad, and even though I’m in interiors now, that education of not overpopulating spaces, of letting the building be seamless, has always carried through for me.” CAROLINE FAROUKI, DESIGNER AND RESIDENT
The entry (opposite) has a custom cubby for shoes that pulls out to reveal storage concealed under the stair. “The wood is northern white oak,” says Caroline. “I wanted a rustic grade, for character. Since we don’t have a lot of stuff, or a lot of space, the materials have to speak.” The sconce is by Allied Maker. In the primary bedroom (above), the custom bed is joined by a side table from Dims and a pendant by Norm Architects for Menu.
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
The founders of Farouki Farouki, a New Orleans architecture and interior design firm, Caroline (interiors) and Sabri (architecture) are behind some of the city’s most visually striking spaces, from the glittery brasserie Justine in the French Quarter to The Odeon at South Market—a 30-story, 271-unit apartment building. In a city synonymous with old-world aesthetics, their own modern, minimalist house is easy to pick out. The front does not feature classic hurricane shutters but sleek, black-framed windows. The petite balcony was a concession to local regulations that the couple now agree gives the house a more copacetic, European appeal in the neighborhood. “We are in a HDLC [Historic
District Landmark Commission] zone, but I think they were pretty receptive to us creating a modern home,” says Sabri. It was Caroline who first suggested flipping the script, placing the bedrooms for the couple and their two sons downstairs and the living areas and kitchen above to maximize open space and natural light. “Knowing that the front would be the primary bedroom and bath, we could not have a front door, and it necessitated a side entry,” says Sabri, who placed the entrance at the center of the building down a narrow outdoor walkway. Just inside, the couple designed a staircase open to the second floor to create a sense of space and height. Downstairs, you’ll also find brilliantly 79
dwellings
unexpected storage. Beneath the staircase, a bench pulls out from the wall, exposing a three-by-eight-foot space for luggage and sports equipment. There’s also a large laundry/storage room, as well as the guest powder room with black-and-white hand-printed wallpaper. In the rear of the building is the kids’ room, where Remy (age five) and Maz (age two) hold court. Their room was originally going to have bunk beds—but “my mom talked us out of it, because making them is terrible,” Caroline says, laughing again. “We did an L-shape, with the beds designed as two little houses, which maximized the play area on the floor. The family plans to upgrade to loft beds as the boys get older. “One of my favorite things is their little reading lights inside the beds. It makes story time an experience,” she says.
80
Walking up the stairs, you emerge from the cozy ground floor into a wide-open second level, with the living room, kitchen, and dining room flowing into one another and out to a terrace above the boys’ room. “We had a limited budget in general,” says Caroline, “and we spend the most time in the living space and kitchen, so we wanted to spend the money there.” One must-have was a large kitchen island. “I saw this White Cherokee marble and asked our preferred fabricator about it,” Caroline says, “and she suggested Shadow Storm. It’s harder than a typical marble and is more resistant to staining and etching.” The open sight lines, combined with windows on four sides, give the entire space a tree house feel. The effect is possible because engineering firm Batture designed an eight-inch steel-tube
From the compact quarters downstairs, you emerge into a bright, open second floor. It feels more expansive than its square footage thanks to a steel moment frame (opposite) that eliminates the need for interior structural walls. In the dining room, a Lambert et Fils chandelier hangs above a black-stained, live-edge ash table. For the living room (below), Caroline chose lounge chairs from Australia’s Barnaby Lane, a coffee table from Sobu, Maiden Home sofas, and a Moroccan rug from Muima.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
81
dwellings
moment frame at the heart of the otherwise timber building. Visible around the stairs, it eliminates the need for structural walls on the second level. “You don’t usually have a steel frame in a residence,” Sabri says, “but it got us the open floor plan we wanted. Once we had it, we decided to show it. It’s a moment of honesty—it shows you how the structure of the house is working.” Looking out from the terrace above the kids’ room, Sabri says, “Indoor/outdoor living was important to us.” He points out views that are hard to argue with: the dramatic St. Mary’s Assumption Church, built in 1858, on one side; a curving palm tree and the charmingly faded rooftops of historic houses on the other. “This view was a big surprise for us— and the best surprise,” he says. “We never got to see that aspect of the lot when we bought it. The house celebrates New Orleans out of every window.”
Farouki Residence
N
Farouki Farouki New Orleans, Louisiana
ARCHITECT LOCATION
J G
H
K
I
L
Second Floor
F
B
B
A C
E
F
D C
A B C D E F
Entrance Bedroom Bathroom Powder Room Laundry Porch
82
G H I J K L
Terrace Dining Room Kitchen Landing Living Room Balcony
A pattern from Juju Papers gives the walls of the powder room (above) a playful character. In the kids’ room (above left), a pendant from Cedar & Moss hangs above custom gabled beds with integrated lighting. The walls are
painted Tranquility by Benjamin Moore. The exterior is clad in black standing-seam metal siding (opposite), while a terrace with a family-size sectional sits on the roof. Even on a small lot, there’s room for a backyard with a trampoline.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT
First Floor
dwellings
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
83
dwellings
Dream Sequence Outside Paris, a 19th-century house conceals a minimalist tableau rich with color.
84
TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @LAHAUSER
Jennifer Baum Lagdameo
Alejandra Hauser
A white gravel allée leads to Onur and Alix Keçe’s weekend retreat an hour outside Paris (opposite). The couple, a pair of creatives, oversaw the renovation of the long-neglected 1892 structure themselves, with Onur designing the living spaces and built-ins and Alix responsible for everything else. In the primary bedroom (this page), daughters Ellis and Panda play on pieces of a 1972 Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini. A Davide Groppi Moon pendant, made of Japanese paper, hangs overhead.
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
85
dwellings
On an overcast morning in October 2018, Alix and Onur Keçe approached an overgrown plot in the Vexin nature preserve northwest of Paris just as the sun broke through the clouds. The couple, whose main residence is an apartment in the city’s tony 7th arrondissement, had been looking for a country home for years. They wanted a place where their two daughters—Ellis, six, and Panda, three— could run freely, and ideally it would be within an hour’s car ride so that “there wouldn’t be too much screaming on the way there,” says Onur. They’d looked at numerous properties, but none measured up to the traditional stone house that stood sunlit before them on that fall day. Built in 1892 at the edge of a forest, the house, with a three-story tower and an attached ivy-covered barn, was part of a compound that also included two additional one-room structures. Left untouched since the 1960s, and visited only once a year by the previous owners, the home had fallen into disrepair. “The garden was like a jungle—but that is what we loved about it,” says Onur.
The couple immediately saw the property’s potential. Both are creative directors of companies they founded— Alix, who retains her last name, Petit, professionally, at the women’s wear line Heimstone, and Onur at design/communications agency The Refreshment Club. They planned to maintain the exteriors but reimagined the interiors as a cleanlined ode to concrete and immersive swaths of color. Onur designed the renovation himself and worked with a local contractor to realize it. The Keçes knew that having a large communal space would be key. “In Paris, the children have a pretty big bedroom, but they’re never in there,” says Onur. “They’re always in our bedroom or the living room.” This inspired them to transform the spacious, high-ceilinged barn into a multipurpose bedroom suite much like an urban loft—fitting, as the couple had met while living in New York City. At the center, Onur placed a floating, three-ton concrete bed inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of built-in furniture. There’s a fireplace in the sitting area and
A concrete staircase (above) leads to a newly added mezzanine that contains Onur and Alix’s bathroom and a small sauna (right). The cast iron tub is a Paris flea market find, and the cement floor tiles were designed by Alix and made in Istanbul. “I love to use mosaic tiles in gradations of color,” she says. A gloss-sealed MDF closet doubles as a headboard for the couple’s floating concrete bed (opposite). Behind the closet is the girls’ bedroom and bath.
86
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
87
dwellings
“We were looking for something that was in bad shape, a place we could completely tear apart and renovate from scratch.” ONUR KEÇE, DESIGNER AND RESIDENT
88
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
Like the teal-painted bedroom suite, where 12-foot-long patterned curtains (opposite) block the morning sun, every room in the compound has a signature color scheme. In the Coral Room (right), on the top floor of the tower, the hues range from dusty pink to burgundy. “Each room is a color box with a specific color from floor to ceiling,” says Alix. “It creates a kind of unity.” The bathroom in the guesthouse (below left) retains the claw-foot tub that came with the property.
another fireplace on the adjacent patio, reached via tall glass doors. To keep the children close yet give them their own space, Onur designed a “cubby house” tucked behind the MDF-clad walk-in closet—a tiny room with bunk beds and an en suite bathroom nook. Here, it was Ellis who provided the creative direction with just one word—“rainbow”— which describes the colorful array of floor-to-ceiling tiles. For their own bathroom, Alix and Onur took advantage of
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
the barn’s 24-foot vaulted ceiling, placing the bathroom and a two-person sauna on a lofted level reached by a floating concrete staircase. A glass wall overlooks the bedroom below. Onur visualized open, minimalist spaces, but Alix is “a big hater of white walls,” he says. Onur got his open spaces, but Alix injected surfaces with color, from the pink-tinted concrete countertops and bespoke patterned tiles in the kitchen to the similarly patterned curtains in the
barn—all referencing the vibrant fabrics she designs for her clothing brand. For the walls and ceilings, she chose an array of lime-based paints applied with a technique known as chaux ferrée, which produces a textured effect like that of Venetian painted plaster. “My eyes are always much more responsive to colors and patterns than to plain, white things,” Alix explains. In the one-level main house, converted into the family’s living area, Onur devised opportunities to “come together around 89
The window recesses in the living area (this page) have rounded edges. “All of the details are curved in this room, to add softness,” says Onur. A pink concrete dining-cumcoffee table (opposite) holds a fire pit at one end, where it’s surrounded by a pair of Gae Aulenti lounge chairs, a Tufty Time sofa from B&B Italia, and a Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chair. The 1930s dining chairs are by Hynek Gottwald.
90
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
91
dwellings
“ We’re either cooking, sitting around the bar at the island, or at the table in the living area by the fire. It’s all very, very snug.” ONUR KEÇE
92
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
dwellings
The family gathers in the kitchen (opposite), which features oak cabinets, a concrete island, and brass fixtures. The backsplash is made of pink bricks hand-selected by Alix and Onur from a nearby brickyard. The mango wood pendants were purchased in a market in Bangkok. A swing hangs from one of the home’s original beams (right). “It was a gift from friends in New York,” says Onur. “The girls spend hours on it.”
N
Casa Keçe DESIGNERS LOCATION
A B C D
Alix and Onur Keçe Haravilliers, France
Entrance Living Area Dining Area Kitchen
E F G H
Bedroom Bathroom Bedroom Suite Bathroom/Sauna
I Guesthouse J Tool Shed K Table Tennis Room
I
Third Floor
Second Floor
First Floor
F F E
E
F
E A D C
B
Mezzanine
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES+WRIGHT
A
H J
G
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
K
food.” What had previously been four small rooms was converted to an openplan space with a vaulted ceiling that reaches nearly sixteen-and-a-half-feet high at its peak. A pink-tinted concrete table as long as the ceiling is high spans the dining and living areas. Where the slab travels into the living area, which is slightly higher, it functions as a coffee table. “The idea is that if someone is sitting at the dining table and someone is sitting on the sofa in the living area, they actually have the same eye line,” says Onur. Per Alix’s request for a warm fire next to her during meals, Onur embedded a fire pit into the surface at the coffee table end. It is one of six fireplaces in the home. Originally slated for completion by March 2020, the home would have made an ideal pandemic hideout, but delays in construction meant it wasn’t finished until a full year later. Now, however, the Keçes head out of town every Friday afternoon. “With Covid, the house has become a lot more important in our lives,” says Onur. “Both Alix and I grew up in suburban homes with big gardens, but our children were being raised in two of the busiest cities—New York and Paris. Seeing them discover nature is incredible. When we are in the country home, we really enjoy the downtime, relaxing without the interferences of urban life.” 93
budget breakdown TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @LEONIDFURMANSKYPHOTOGRAPHER
Jessie Temple
Leonid Furmansky
Out of the Office A Texas couple spend $144,000 to balance work and life in their own backyard.
Texas couple Brittany and Nick Hunt, partners in life and at Hunt Architecture, created an office on the grounds of their Austin home that allows them to run their practice while staying close to their kids.
94
Brittany and Nick Hunt met at work in the summer of 2013, at the studio of renowned architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, near Central Park in New York City. “We sat five feet away from each other,” says Brittany. “It was a dream job for both of us.” But it was also demanding, with long hours compounded by a commute. By late 2016, Nick left to work full-time for Hunt Architecture, a firm he’d founded with his brother, Andrew, and with Brittany expecting their first child, the decision was made: They wanted a new lifestyle. In fall 2017 they moved to Austin, Texas,
where Brittany had gone to school, and she joined the firm the following year. At first, they ran the practice out of a sunroom in their bungalow. “It was the perfect spot initially,” says Nick, but when their second child arrived, “we needed to get out of the house.” The solution was right outside: They had enough space in the backyard to build a compact office and guest room. Not only does it provide a place for family to stay (Brittany’s mom has visited to help with the kids), but it was also a kind of test kitchen for materials and techniques. “It’s really nice meeting clients in a space
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
budget breakdown
3
1
3
2
1. CABINETRY
2. FLOORS
3. FURNITURE
4. WINDOWS & DOORS
Austin studio Petrified Design created the millwork throughout the building for $6,845. To save money, Nick painted the cabinetry in the office himself.
Another place where the couple minimized expenses was on the flooring. “The floor was a cost saver,” Brittany says. “It’s the actual foundation that’s just been sealed.” The concrete and its finishing came out to $9,725.
The couple chose white IKEA Linnmon tabletops and Alex drawers that retail for $9 and $80, respectively, for their desks. To give visiting clients a distinctive experience, they asked Petrified Design to create a woodand-steel conference table.
The Hunts splurged on custom steel-frame windows and doors from Petrified, at a total cost of $15,620. “The elevations are simple, but we spent money on the details and things that mattered to us,” Brittany says, “like skylights and nice windows that can open.”
96
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
The gray Lueders limestone countertop and backsplash in the kitchenette (above left) are paired with Avalon fixtures from California
Faucets in the Oil Rubbed Bronze finish. For the bathroom (above right), local studio Dusty Whipple Designs created a
custom concrete sink. It sits within waterproof tadelakt plaster walls that run seamlessly into the shower and around the room.
“The things we splurged on still look raw, which is what we wanted.” NICK HUNT, ARCHITECT AND RESIDENT
that you’ve designed,” says Nick, “because people can see what they’re getting.” With a limited budget, the Hunts made strategic decisions about where to spend and where to save. They kept the footprint small—under 400 square feet—and the shape simple, adding richness with a palette of burnished LaHabra stucco, wood, and steel. At the entry, an overhang and existing tree create a sense of arrival. Inside, a tiny bathroom/kitchenette core separates the office from the bedroom, and a mini-split HVAC system above the bathroom cools the entire space. Interior finishes range from raw concrete floors to polished tadelakt in the bathroom; the waterproof plaster allows the whole bathroom to get wet, eliminating the need for a shower door and creating a spa-like feel. Low-cost furniture and fixtures (from IKEA and Cedar and Moss, respectively) left room in the budget for a few bigimpact custom moments: a door handle, giant skylights, a concrete sink fabricated by local artisan Dusty Whipple, and
DWELL
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
Walls clad in burnished LaHabra stucco and cedar siding give the building a lived-in vibe. “We want it to feel like it”s been here for years,” Nick says. “We like that the siding is wearing a little bit, and the stucco has variation, and it doesn”t look perfect.”
97
budget breakdown
large, operable custom steel windows from Petrified Design. The wood ceilings were a splurge, though the Hunts did save some money by switching to an engineered siding product, which also clads the exterior, instead of clear-finished cedar. The custom shelving that stretches across the back wall was another hefty investment but necessary for showcasing the firm’s material collection. “To be able to pick things up and touch them, it’s a big source of inspiration for us,” says Brittany. A fabric piece by Brittany, sketches by the kids, and
artifacts collected on the family’s travels lend a homey touch throughout. Overall, it was nearly $144,000 well spent, including the contractor’s fees and permits. The couple keep strict work hours, but their kids sometimes run across the yard to say “hi” (the hinged windows are a big hit with the little ones). “Leaving work at four, being able to structure your life that way, it’s a luxury,” says Nick. “And if we need to plug in for an hour or two after the kids go to bed, we just walk back here.” Brittany sums it up: “We built the worklife balance we’d always dreamed about.”
The custom cabinetry (above) stores and displays material samples for client visits. In the bedroom (left), personal touches like an heirloom chest and a painting by Nick complement an Akari Light Sculpture and a blanket from the local Carpenter Hotel’s shop.
98
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
off the grid
Opening Statement TEXT BY
PHOTOS BY | @MARIKOREED
Kelly Vencill Sanchez
Mariko Reed
At James and Sara Davis’s weekend home on O‘ahu, doubleheight doors open to a lanai-like space at the center of the house. The home’s energy needs are met via solar panels set by the entry.
Massive sliding doors connect a Hawaii home to its mountainside surroundings.
100
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
Coming Fall 2021...
Watch for updates at Dwell.com.
off the grid
O‘ahu’s North Shore is known for its epic surf, but it wasn’t the big waves that drew Sara and James Davis. It was a mountain—specifically Mount Ka‘ala, the island’s highest peak. The couple and their three children, who live an hour away in Honolulu, dreamed of a getaway in the area’s quiet interior. “We’re nature people,” James explains. “We love to be out on hiking trails, mountain biking, or under the shade of mango trees.” Here, on a 2.5-acre property shaded by 100-year-old banyan trees, Sara, a doctor, and James, who works in real estate development and management, have created an off-grid family retreat where weekends are all about fresh air and living simply. They’d envisioned a modern, 600-squarefoot cabin with high ceilings, a loft for the kids, and room for guests. Then, through a friend of Sara’s, they met architect Bundit Kanisthakhon, a principal at Tadpole Studio and an assistant professor at the University of Hawai‘i, who helped them realize even more.
Kanisthakhon answered their desire for indoor/outdoor living by designing an airy, rectangular volume with a nearly wraparound deck and a double-height living/dining room at its center that opens on two sides—a play on the traditional Hawaiian lanai. (Barn doors slide closed when the Davises aren’t in residence and keep out animals and insects.) There is a bedroom on each end, while a ladder leads from the main living space to a loft that’s both a play area and guest quarters. The angled roof frames dramatic views of Mount Ka‘ala. Getting materials to the site was no small task. The road to the property crosses a river that is often impassable in winter. But with design-build consultant John Henderson on hand as project manager, the house was framed quickly. Henderson’s practical suggestions, like using the same corrugated metal the roof is made out of for the large barn doors, eased construction difficulties. Further assistance came from Kanisthakhon,
“ The roofline is angled so that the clients can wake up in the morning and see Mount Ka‘ala.”” BUNDIT KANISTHAKHON, ARCHITECT
The couple incorporated wood-and-glass sliding doors from ETO (top) left over from a home they’d remodeled previously. The dining area (left) is furnished with Indonesian hardwood pieces from Bali Aga and lit by solar lanterns from Goal Zero. The floors are by Trex. “The whole interior can be washed down with a hose,” says James, who made the ladder that leads to the loft.
102
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
Smart Shopping for the Design Obsessed Visit dwell.com/shop.
Find what you love in our expert selection of well designed home, office, travel, and lifestyle products.
off the grid
Sara works in the kitchen, which contains a propane cooktop from Wolf and a propane refrigerator by Dometic. The louvered windows are from the Glass Guru.
104
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
The Dwell Home Guide
Pros & Project Management
Mortgages & Budgets
ILLUSTRATIONS: HANNAH WARREN
Introducing the ultimate resource for buyers, builders, renovators, and anyone getting serious about improving their home. Our guide explains everything from financing to faucets for people who live for design. Gardening & Plants
Check out the full list of topics at dwell.com/guides.
off the grid
The home’s architect, Bundit Kanisthakhon, set the structure above ground as a precaution against flooding. At the Davises’ request, he ensured that the house can be disassembled for easy relocation.
106
N
Camp Davis ARCHITECT LOCATION
Tadpole Studio Haleiwa, Hawaii
E
G
B
C
A
F
D
H
E
Ground Floor
Loft
A Entrance B Living/ Dining Area C Deck D Kitchen E Bedroom F Bathroom G Play Area/ Guestroom H Storage
J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
ILLUSTRATION: LOHNES + WRIGHT
who specified plywood and metal sheeting in standard sizes that could be transported and put into place without big trucks or heavy equipment. “Since a lot of the materials are imported, we wanted to make sure there was no waste, or as little as possible,” Kanisthakhon says. Though the modest cabin they’d first conceived of expanded to 925 square feet, not including the decks, the Davises retained their goal of living off the grid. There’s a propane refrigerator and cooktop, and two 100-watt solar panels provide electricity. A well and a 1,500-gallon cistern keep the home supplied with water. When cloudy days mean no power, the family takes it in stride. “You’re back in the Laura Ingalls Wilder days of carrying your bucket out to the tank and filling it up so you can do the dishes,” says James. “At night we’ll take our lanterns outside and make a campfire. You see the stars much more clearly, and you just have that camping sort of feel.”
modern market Smart Shopping For the Design Obsessed. Find what you love in our expertly curated selection of finely crafted home, office, travel, and lifestyle products.
Created Hardwood Ltd Premium Quality Solid Wood Products
More at Dwell.com/Shop
We are a manufacturer of quality solid wood furniture and surfaces that are functional and beautiful. Our team responsibly sources remarkable wood slabs and adds expert craftsmanship and customer service to deliver stunning furnishings meant to last a lifetime. We offer a core line of products available for purchase online, as well as custom projects where we can work together to create the perfect piece for you. Contact us to learn more and discover your next piece of furniture! info@createdhardwood.com (833) 326-6493 Createdhardwood.com
Stillwater Dwellings Great Homes Happen By Design Specializing in high-end prefab homes that are designed and customized to your taste. We leverage the efficiencies of our systems-built methods to provide you with cost predictability, quality control and a sustainable build. Contact us to learn more.
TODD KOELMEL oil paintings bold yet simple / nostalgic yet modern. free shipping worldwide toddkoelmel.com @toddkoelmel on instagram
stillwater-dwellings.com info@stillwaterdwellings.com 800.691.7302
Willow & Albert Home Asher Armchair Explore our luxurious custom furniture at Willow & Albert Home, including our exclusive dining chair collection with 39 upholstery combinations. willowandalbert.com/collections/dining-chairs
evoDOMUS A Different Kind of Prefab
Hilary Pfeifer Mid-century-inspired sculptures integrating laser cut metal, reclaimed wood, colored pencils. Other works include mobiles, vinyl collage and modernist nativity scenes. hilarypfeifer.com
evoDOMUS builds individually-designed homes with refreshing, generous and open contemporary style. High quality materials, such as triple-glazed German windows, combined with our commitment to energy efficiency provide an unparalleled living experience. We operate coast to coast, using a distinct comprehensive approach. Let evoDOMUS create a beautiful, sustainable dream home for you. Give us a call to discuss your project. Tel. 216-772-2603 www.evodomus.com/dwell
Concrete Wall Finish Contemporary wall coating made Easy Bold and beautiful, loft original concrete is available in a variety of colors and styles. Water-based and eco-friendly, the superb quality and easy application process of our concrete looking coating make it a snap to achieve exactly the look and feel you want.
Stepstone, Inc. CalArc Pavers ranging from 12”x12” up to 24”x60”. Available in multiple finishes and 12 standard colors. 12”x48” in Porcelain light sandblast as shown. 800.572.9029 stepstoneinc.com
Curious to know more? Come discover all our coating styles on our online boutique and get started!
concretewallfinish.com
modern market
Kalamazoo The Shokunin Kamado Grill
emuliving Ronda 2.0 It is a challenge to re-design perfection. Nonetheless, our Italian designers have taken the original Ronda, created in 1997, and perfected it to the Ronda 2.0. The innovative one-piece design for the seat and back follows the curves of the body to amplify support and comfort. A newly designed mesh makes this collection practical and strong, yet lightweight enough to stack. Made using the same patented e-coated steel process as the original, Ronda 2.0 is durable and perfect for any patio. This collection consists of a sidechair, armchair and barstool. emuliving.com 800.726.0368 us.info@emuliving.com
Kalamazoo introduces a strong modern design perspective to the Kamado category. The Shokunin Kamado Grill is taller, so it’s more versatile—fire can be built further below the food, on the lowest of three levels. The insulation has been dialed up, cross-flow ventilation redesigned, and multizone cooking made easier. The construction is masterful: built with incredible precision and attention to detail. kalamazoogourmet.com
Stillwater Dwellings Great Homes Happen By Design Introducing the new Stillwater Connection Series. Three new ultra-modern, systems-built homes designed to create a distinctive sense of place in tune with the physical world. Our prefabricated methods provide cost predictability and a precision build. Contact us to learn more.
Mueller-Emform USA stillwater-dwellings.com info@stillwaterdwellings.com 800.691.7302
Small Living for over 150 years. Featuring our minimal FlatMate Desk perfect for small spaces. Made In Germany mueller-emform-usa.com Tel. 888.591.0751
VELDT MARFA Wear Your Art Timeless & minimal. Petite Titanium Box necklace on Italian box chain. Veldt is a tiny jeweler based in Marfa, Texas creating wearable art in materials including titanium and porcelain. veldtmarfa.com | @veldtmarfa
LifeStraw Home Glass Water Filter Pitcher Priced at $54.95
LéAna Clifton “Color, Light & Time” LéAna Clifton is a Marfa based artist with a passion for large fields of color punctuated by bold line work. Editions and original works based on speeding trains in the West Texas desert.
Behind this Scandinavian eye candy is a pitcher that filters out over 30 contaminants (including bacteria, lead, microplastics, parasites, and PFAS), a company that fights for the planet, and a give-back program that provides millions of children with safe water. Discover more at lifestraw.com/home.
LC@leanaclifton.com | @leanacliftonart
Modern-Shed Not only the originator of the backyard modern shed craze, but innovators of style and simplicity. How will you use your new space? Art Studio Home Office Man Cave She Shed Guest Suite
SchlotzCreate Renew Art can be healing and stimulating. Limitededition prints for designers and enthusiasts. Direct from the artist. Discover more at photos.schlotzcreate.com info@schlotzcreate.com
Download our brand new catalog. Toll-free 800-261-7282 info@modern-shed.com modern-shed.com
modern market
Alexandra Rose Let’s Get Lost / 60” x 51” paintings in oil, acrylic, ink on canvas Los Angeles, California Commissions upon request
alexandraroseart.com
Sonoma Forge Designer Faucets Our WaterBridge Collection is the essence of the industrial chic aesthetic that Sonoma Forge pioneered 20 years ago, elevating humble plumbing parts to designer status. The distinctive lines inspired by our wine country locale and honest labor in the fields and vineyards.
French Oak Hardwood Flooring
Options include the Asian-inspired waterfall spout seen here or the more utilitarian elbow spout as well as your choice of lever or cross handles. Standard finishes; Rustic Nickel, Rustic Copper, Satin Nickel, Oil-Rubbed Bronze or Matte Black. Be sure to see the WaterBridge indoor/outdoor showers! Forged in America.
NATURAL | CARBONIZED | FUMED Plank, Herringbone, and Chevron, Patterns Prefinished: Neutral, Matte or Natural Oil Plank starting at $4.99/SF
www.sonomaforge.com
uniquesurface.com
basal pronounced: bāzəl defined: forming the bottom layer or base Modern furniture is often made with an aesthetics-first, longevity-second approach. This mindset produces ephemeral goods destined to end up in landfills. At Basal, we design differently. Founded by a designer with over 30 years of experience creating outdoor furnishings and lighting for high-end commercial projects, Basal’s work emphasizes beauty and durability in equal measures.
Linear Tube Audio Z10 Integrated Amplifier
Basal’s furniture is crafted to last a lifetime.
Listening room quality. Living room friendly. For those who demand the best, but want to keep things simple.
www.basal.life
10% off @ lineartubeaudio.com/dwell
Concrete Candles + Vessels Household by KONZUK The Orbis candle’s illuminated wafer-thin raw edge and pitted geometric form inspire meditative calm, radiating hope and renewal. Once the soy wax burns away, the vessel’s shelf life is extended into an active setting for a succulent, tealight holder, or for storing precious keepsakes.
Shop Collection: konzuk.com
Modern Shelving Inside a Hip Brooklyn Apartment What sets this custom unit apart is the use of shallow shelf depths, paired with innovative rounded corners. This allows a large collection of books to be stored in a minimal space, while having that modern look.
Wick Graypants
Modern Shelving is an innovative company that manufactures custom shelving units for a reasonable cost. With a wide array of sustainable materials, clients receive a 3D Design of their system as well as access to more colors & design features! modernshelving.com 877-477-5487
Wick is designed with the belief that light is meant to be shared: it is the connecting tool that humanises moments of our lives. Creating a place to gather, Wick is designed to be a companion, to join in adventures and create togetherness and ambiance every time. Wick is a call from our past to the future. It’s the opportunity to mindfully light the present. Wick is perfect as a gift or for your own enjoyment. Learn More: graypants.com
Concrete Wall Finish Contemporary wall coating made Easy Modern and beautifully textured, our loft raw concrete will completely change your decor! Water-based and ecofriendly, the superb quality and easy application process of our concrete looking coating make it a snap to achieve exactly the look and feel you want. Curious to know more? Come discover all our coating styles on our online boutique and get started!
TedStuff The UpTown Box
concretewallfinish.com
Light-able, lockable and opens from the front and back. Available in White or Black with 12 door color options. The perfect accessory for your modern home. Made in the USA Discover more at TedStuff.net
Contact Our Advertisers Noho noho move™
When contacting our advertisers, please be sure to mention that you saw their ads in Dwell.
Meet a chair that brings a new kind of comfort to everyday life with its unique versatility and dynamic, earth-friendly design that enriches your home, your well-being and our planet.
Alden B. Dow Home & Studio abdow.org/
Lumacast lumacast.com/
Avocado Mattress avocadogreenmattress.com/
NanaWall nanawall.com
Benjamin Moore benjaminmoore.com/en-us
Paloform paloform.com/
Learn More noho.co
Bosch bosch-home.com/us/
Space Theory spacetheory.com
Circa Lighting circalighting.com
Stepstone, Inc. stepstoneinc.com
Concrete Collaborative concrete-collaborative.com/
Stillwater Dwellings stillwaterdwellings.com
Corcoran corcoran.com
Thos. Moser thosmoser.com
CP Supply cpsupply.us
Turkel Design turkeldesign.com
emuamericas emuamericas.com/
Viewrail viewrail.com
Green Mountain Energy greenmountainenergy.com
Western Red Cedar realcedar.com
GoodWeave goodweave.org/
Western Window Systems westernwindowsystems.com
Grillworks grillworksusa.com Henrybuilt henrybuilt.com Hive hivemodern.com Homacer homacer.com House of Rohl houseofrohl.com Humboldt getredwood.com Hunter Douglas hunterdouglas.com/ JGeiger jgeigershading.com LifeStraw lifestraw.com/
Shelfology Tromso Floating Shelves Yo, dudes & dudettes! Put your designer mojo in high gear with Tromso, the thinnest, strongest, made-to-measure, solid steel floating shelf within this earthly planisphere. Get 40+ radical finishes to mix, match, and Reclaim Your Walls™. With 90 lbs per linear ft of holding power and super sexy lines, your designs are guaranteed to add megajoules of rad to any space. The crazier the better. Impress your posse, live in the now! Shelf geeks standing by: shelfology.com | hello@shelfology.com 949.244.1083
If you are interested in joining Modern Market please contact: sales@dwell.com
sourcing The products, furniture, architects, designers, and builders featured in this issue.
Embrio Design Studio embriodesignstudio.com Deskin Building Design deskindesign.com Wynn Engineering wynnengineering.com Civil engineering by The Sea Bright Company Interior and landscape design by Embrio Design Studio embriodesignstudio.com Cabinetry by Environmental Builders envbuilders.com 24 Chevron flooring from Kährs kahrs.com; One quartz countertop by Daltile daltile.com; faucet from Kohler kohler.com; windows by Milgard milgard.com 25 Color Theory Sideboard from Kardiel kardiel.com; cabinets from IKEA ikea.com; espresso machine from Breville breville.com; appliances from KitchenAid kitchenaid .com; clapboard siding from James Hardie jameshardie.com 48 Character Study Ling Hao Architects linghaoarchitects.com Powood Design and Construction 65.6749.6316 50-51 Bench from Muji muji.com; chair from Ton ton.eu; Wishbone chair by Hans Wegner from Carl Hansen & Søn carlhansen.com 52 AJ table lamp from Louis Poulsen louispoulsen.com
Ramm Custom Build rammcustombuild.com Structural engineering by Blackwell blackwell.ca Civil engineering by Highland Consulting Lighting design by MountainHigh Lighting mhlighting.ca Interior design by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson bcj.com Forest Designs forestdesigns.ca Timber fabrication by Spearhead spearhead.ca 60 Red cedar siding from Spearhead spearhead.ca; windows from Loewen loewen.com 62 Ziro floor tiles in Gris from Navarti navarti .com; Contemporary Metal Edge pulls from Richelieu richelieu.com; HanStone quartz countertop from Floform floform.com; oven, cooktop, and microwave by Whirlpool whirlpool .com; fireplace by Stûv stuvamerica.com; Vane Grande pendant from Tech Lighting techlighting.com 66 Years in the Making
Manasseri Depetris manasseridepetris.com Furniture by Citrino instagram.com/citrino .citrino
Douglas & Company douglasandco.co.za M Puccini Builders 27.72.657.0935 Gadomski Consulting Engineers gadomski.co.za Interior design by Douglas & Company douglasandco.co.za Cabinetry installation by Holz Cabinetry holz.co.za 70-71 Oak table by James Mudge jamesmudge.co.za; dining chairs from Houtlander houtlander .co.za; floor lamp by Douglas & Company douglasandco.co.za
60 A New Outlook
76 A Lot of Potential
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson in association with Miller Mottola Calabro bcj.com
Farouki Farouki faroukifarouki.com Construction by Inhab Design + Build
54 Into the Blue
Dwell® (ISSN 1530-5309), Volume XXI Issue 4, publishes six double issues annually, by Dwell Life, Inc., 547 Market Street, PMB 35259, San Francisco, CA 94104-5401, USA. Occasional extra issues may also be published. Copyright ©2021. All rights reserved. In the US, Dwell® is a registered trademark of Dwell Life, Inc. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited
114
inhabgroup.com Structural engineering by Batture batture-eng.com Interior design by Farouki Farouki faroukifarouki.com 77 Windows from Marvin marvin.com; Siding from James Hardie jameshardie.com 78 Wall sconce from Allied Maker alliedmaker. com; Blue Savoy marble from Coastal Tile coastal-tile.com 79 Side table from Dims dims.world; Bank pendant by Norm Architects for Menu menudesignshop.com 80 Lounge chairs from Barnaby Lane barnabylane.com; coffee table from Sobu sobusobu.com; sofa from Maiden Home maidenhome.com; Moroccan rug from Muima muima.bigcartel.com 81 Chandelier by Lambert et Fils lambertetfils.com 82 Pendant from Cedar & Moss cedarandmoss .com; paint in Tranquility from Benjamin Moore benjaminmoore.com; wallpaper from Juju Papers jujupapers.com; Heppner wall mirror from Cooper Classics cooperclassics.com 83 Umbrella from Frontgate frontgate.com 84 Dream Sequence The Refreshment Club therefreshmentclub.com Construction by Valenton Service Batiment 01.43.76.16.56 Landscape, lighting, interior, and cabinetry design by The Refreshment Club therefreshmentclub.com 85 Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini for B&B Italia bebitalia.com; Moon pendant by Davide Groppi davidegroppi.com 91 Lounge chairs by Gae Aulenti for Knoll
Dream Sequence
vintage; Tufty Time sofa by Patricia Urquiola for B&B Italia bebitalia.com; Barcelona Chair by Mies van der Rohe for Knoll knoll.com; dining chairs by Ladislav Žák for Hynek Gottwald vintage; Tab floor lamp by Flos flos.com 94 Out of the Office Hunt Architecture hunt-architecture.com Fieldwork Construction instagram.com/ fieldworkconstruction R.D. Hammond Consulting & Engineering 956.367.5561 Cabinetry and steel windows by Petrified Design petrifieddesign.com 96-97 Desks and rug from IKEA ikea.com; antique wooden wheel from Portland Salvage portlandsalvage.com;
manuscripts, art, or other materials. Subscription price for US residents: $27.00 for 6 issues. Canadian subscription rate: $39.95 (GST included) for 6 issues. All other countries: $49.95 for 6 issues. To order a subscription to Dwell or to inquire about an existing subscription, please write to: Dwell Magazine Customer Service, PO Box 5100, Harlan, IA 51593-0600, or call 777-939-3553.
Fjord Surface light from Cedar and Moss cedarandmoss.com; JWDA table lamp by Jonas Wagell for Menu menudesignshop.com; wood ceiling by US Lumber Brokers uslumberbrokers.com; Avalon faucet from California Faucets calfaucets.com; concrete sink by Dusty Whipple Designs instagram.com/ dustywhipple; tadelakt from Modern Plasters modernplasters.net 98 Akari Light Sculpture by Isamu Noguchi noguchi.org; blanket by Carpenter Hotel shop. carpenterhotel.com
Jeremy Munoz hendersondbc.com General contracting by JSMC 707.754.7553 100 Solar panels from Goal Zero goalzero.com 102 Sliding doors from ETO etodoors.com; furniture from Bali Aga bali-aga.com 104 Lanterns from Goal Zero goalzero.com; floors by Trex trex.com; cooktop from Wolf subzero-wolf.com; refrigerator by Dometic dometic.com; louvered windows by The Glass Guru theglassguru.com; porcelain tile from Daltile daltile.com 106 Decking from Trex trex.com
100 Opening Statement Tadpole Studio tadpolestudio.org Project management by John Henderson and
For contact information for our advertisers, please turn to page 113.
Periodicals Postage Paid at San Francisco, CA, and at additional mailing offices. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement #40612607. Canadian GST Registration No. 72247 2709 RT0001. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Bleuchip Intl, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Dwell, PO Box 5100, Harlan, IA 51593-0600.
J U LY/AU G UST 2021 DWELL
PHOTO: ALEJANDRA HAUSER
24 A Home for the Ages
P R O M OT I O N
Matt Fajkus Architecture sited its Creekbluff project to take advantage of the tree canopy for both light quality and energy efficiency.
Waste not, Want Not: Tips for an Energy-Efficient Home
PHOTO: CHARLES DAVIS SMITH
Switching to 100 percent clean energy is the best way to reduce your home’s carbon footprint, but there are other ways to make lasting change. Here, three Texas-based designers who prioritize sustainability share tips for making your dwelling more ecofriendly. From pre-build considerations to strategies for existing homes, here’s how to live a bit more lightly on the land. BAKE IT IN Austin-based architect Matt Fajkus encourages his clients to build energy efficiency into the design process by focusing on solar orientation, breeze-flow, roof geometry, and the preservation of shade trees. “We site structures to minimize heat gain while providing ample openings for natural light,” says Fajkus.
The designer also points out the added wellness benefits of working with nature: “Daylighting connects us with the day’s natural rhythm, which is emotionally soothing.” WINDOWS ARE KEY Charles Culp, professor of architecture at Texas’s A&M University, designed his own home with very few windows on the east and west sides, and abundant openings on the north and south sides. “Shaded windows on the south side give us daylighting yearround and free heat in winter,” he explains. If replacing windows, look for products with a low U-Value (a measurement of thermal transmittance). A layer of UV film can improve the performance of existing windows that aren’t energy efficient.
PULL THE PLUG Dallas-based interior designer Vennesa Torres, founder of V Mode de Vie, suggests homeowners begin by replacing older appliances such as washers, dryers, and refrigerators with models bearing the Energy Star symbol. And if you haven’t already, change your light bulbs. “It’s one of the lowest cost, most impactful measures you can take to cut energy consumption,” Culp notes. Responsible design and small upgrades can result in not only massive savings, but also better living. As Fajkus says, “Energy efficiency is a byproduct of thoughtful, holistic design and goes hand in hand with creating a more comfortable home.”
Read more at dwell.com/greenmountainenergy.
Supported by clean electricity pioneer, Green Mountain Energy, who reminds us: Be certain the power you do use is renewable.
one last thing I got this egg several years ago from Carl Auböck IV himself during a trip to Vienna with my now husband. We were there for a wedding, and a friend suggested I meet the designer in person. My husband and I met Carl at his studio, the same one that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, all of the same name, had worked from. As an Auböck admirer, I still cherish the memory of meeting him. He was so warm and
Crystal Ellis cofounded Egg Collective1 a New York design firm1 in 2011 with Stephanie Beamer and Hillary Petrie. The three women meld their knowledge of art1 architecture1 and woodworking to create furniture and other objects in their woodshop and in collaboration with local1 small-scale fabricators. For Ellis1 an egg from Werkstätte Carl Auböck has come to symbolize their collaboration.
116
generous, and the work from his atelier is truly incredible. During my visit, I purchased three brass egg paperweights: one for myself and two for my business partners, Hillary Petrie and Stephanie Beamer. Part of why we named our company Egg Collective back when we were fresh out of college is that the egg is an ancient symbol of creation—new life shrouded in mystery. When we started our careers, we didn’t know what
was ahead. Working together was the dream, and now, half a lifetime later, we’re living that dream: designing together, nurturing our love of creation. I look to the Auböck egg—which sits in my home, now wearing a dazzling patina coat—not only as a symbol that ties together our story, but also as one that represents the evolution of materiality: how materials change with time and, in my opinion, grow even more beautiful with use.
AS TOLD TO
Kathryn McLamb PHOTO BY | @JAMIECHUNGSTUDIO
Jamie Chung
A patinated brass egg harbors the mystery of creation for designer Crystal Ellis. J U LY/AU G UST 2021
DWELL
SLEEP ORGANIC Avocado organic certified mattresses are handmade in sunny Los Angeles using the finest natural latex, wool and cotton from our own farms. With trusted organic, non-toxic, ethical and ecological certifications, our products are as good for the planet as they are for you. Visit us in Hoboken or Santa Monica or shop online. Start your 1-year organic mattress trial* at AvocadoGreenMattress.com
CU 861640
CU 861640
* Restrictions apply.
Quality gets noticed.
See the Love
Wall — Hodley Red HC-65, AURA®, Eggshell Color accuracy is ensured only when tinted in quality Benjamin Moore® paints. Color representations may differ slightly from actual paint. ©2021 Benjamin Moore & Co. Aura, Benjamin Moore, and the triangle “M” symbol are registered trademarks licensed to Benjamin Moore & Co. 3/21