© Guy Wenborne

© Guy Wenborne

© Guy Wenborne

Barn House was created by architects Cazú Zegers G. It is a perfect replica of the traditional barn, a building used to house livestock or to store agricultural vehicles and equipment. Nowadays, it is more typical that a barn would be built from steel; but Barn House is traditional through and through, faithful to its timber beginnings. Barn conversions were all the rage in the 90s, partly the result of its redundancy in the wake of more modern farming practices; but barns also make for an aesthetic symbol of comfort and a back-to-basics home life. However, this barn , built in Kawelluco, Chile, is not a conversion, but a new-build, created especially to represent the traditional barn model. Its position amongst the trees of Kawelluco affords the barn house a natural, tree-house-like aesthetic: the perfect representation of country living.

The internal design of the building is structured much the same as the traditional barn, open-plan with a mezzanine (intermediate floor or balcony). The simplicity of the interior design, the sparse wooden furniture, white spherical lightshade, and aga cooker, highlights the barn’s former usage, whilst representing its contemporary function as a residential home.

Outside balconies look out on the spectacular views created by the beautiful woodland scenery surrounding the barn. ‘A barn with a view’ was not an expression often heard in the early days of the traditional barn house. Primarily a store house, the barn had no need of windows to look out upon its farm land. As a residential home however, the window is an utmost necessity, not only for the view, but also for light. Due to its traditional design, this barn house has limited windows; but those windows it does have are floor-to-ceiling in size, affording the inside of the house optimum natural light.

Images: Archdaily.com 

BA (Hons) students in Interior Design and Technology from Sir John Cass Faculty of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University displayed their design proposals in the Old Truman Brewery. They present many creative yet feasible design solutions to real live projects.
 
Sarah Acres: ‘Tea with Ted’

 
This tea party space is the design for the new Ted Baker flagship store in Chelsea by Sarah Acres. Aiming to provide customers with a unique experience, Sarah infuses British tea culture into the UK brand and creates a garden scene with elements of Alice in the Wonderland. In this quirky fairytale environment, customers can have a swing while waiting for the changing room, or enjoy a cup of tea after shopping.
 
Michael Cielewicz: ‘The Factory’

 
The modern building with colourful pods is Michael Cielewicz’s design for The Factory, a multidisciplinary design practice. In order to improve the connection and cooperation between
designers working in different parts of the building, Michael creates pods which can move vertically and horizontally, join together, and be accessed from different sides, so that designers can have creative meetings outside of the office. Moreover, Michael has designed ‘focus pods’ for designers to concentrate on their tasks, and ‘sleeping pods’ for a break from intense work. The whole building enables designers to work with higher efficiency and better effectiveness.

Portfolio: Behance.net/michael_cielewicz .

Sharmin Akther: ‘London Metropolitan University Library and Gallery’

 
Sharmin Akther turns the traditional library and gallery of London Metropolitan University into a modern building. The core of the design is a single sphere, a large minimalist decoration, which is a symbol of ‘unity, oneness, harmony, knowledge, and balance in the cycle of life’. The sphere orients the space into a circular style, making everything more visible and accessible. The new library aims to create a delightful and inspiring space for readers.
 
Meglena Dimitrova: Mezedakia Restaurant

 
Meglena Dimitrova redesigns a traditional Greek restaurant located in the vibrant art centre of London. To make the best of the long and narrow space of the four-floor building, Meglena designs floating floors and levels, and creates fluid and continuous space, so that better flexibility and functional diversity are achieved. In addition, the use of natural materials and elements gives customers an intimate feeling. 

Last week, FUSSED caught up with innovative textile designer Jen Moules, last featured on the blog in April. Back then, we fell in love with Jen’s beautiful free-hand prints, and it seems we’re not the only ones. Jen has had her wallpapers featured in the Guardian Magazine and on the Independent website. She also recently showcased her work in London exhibition, New Designers One Year On.  

 
Asked on her experience at the London exhibition, Jen revealed: ‘New Designers One Year On was an amazing experience and it was a real privilege to be one of the few design graduates selected for the exhibition.  I decided to launch my wallpaper collection at the show and got a very
positive response from both industry professionals and the general public and as a result I’ve been offered some more exhibition opportunities. I’d definitely recommend New Designers One Year On to design graduates; it’s the perfect opportunity for anyone wanting to start their own creative business!’
 
Jen’s wallpapers are nothing if not commercially viable. Her digitally printed and bespoke hand embroidered designs would transform the dullest of rooms into an interior design masterpiece. Moving from walls to furniture embellishment, Jen is currently working on a collection of cushions for her brand new online store. She says ‘The range will include digitally printed and screen printed fabrics with hand embroidered detail’. The cushions are sure to carry on the style Jen earmarks as ‘organic, messy and innovative.’
 
Jen reveals her favourite room to furnish with textiles is the living room, the reason being that ‘you can use a combination of different textiles’. Going on to paint a picture of what I can only describe as my dream living room, Jen says ‘I would use tactile and sumptuous textiles in the seating area, bold prints for the windows and include bespoke wallpaper for a feature wall to give the room focus’.
 
Looking to the future, it seems Jen has lots to be getting on with, both in the short and long term: ‘I already have 4 more exhibitions in the pipe line but I’m looking forward to exhibiting at bigger venues and showing my work outside of the UK to expand my potential market. Further into the future I’d like to secure a residency or open a studio with a gallery or retail space which would be open to the public and help create a creative network between other local designer makers’.
 
Jen is more than just a textile designer. Her detailed and innovative vision will no doubt see entire houses designed in Jen Moules textiles, something I cannot wait to see.
 
Website: Jen-moules.co.uk
 
You can view FUSSED’s earlier blog post on Jen Moules here. 

The Welch House was designed by architecture company, The Manser Practice. Located in the Isle of Wight, the Welch House is a four bedroom family home hidden amongst the trees with a Matrix-style aesthetic. Its sleek black, reflective outer walls with a flat roof add a futuristic element, with large square windows giving a sneaky insight into the lives of the property’s inhabitants. It appears the house was quite a challenging build.

Built on the steep slope of a wooded foreshore, erosion, unstable land, and blue slippery clay proved three incredibly important issues to overcome. In order to surpass these problems, The Manser Practice designed a box-type house raised on legs. From the rear view photos of the house, this tree-house feature is particularly evident. The design appears to transform the Isle of Wight seaside into a jungle canopy, a place to live in complete escape from a hectic work schedule and typical British countryside living.
 
Images: Arch-daily.com

Jen Moules is a Hampshire-based designer who graduated from the Arts University College at Bournemouth last year. Her work has a distinctive free-hand style about it which accentuates the charm and quirkiness already captured in her choice of pattern work. Not a designer to colour within the lines as it were, her free drawing style is indicative of an increasing inclination towards the sketch-look. You only need to look so far as the first episode of The Apprentice, in which the free-hand animal drawings of Apprentice candidate, Jade Nash, proved a hit with the public and boardroom alike.

It is hard to say exactly what it is that makes sketch-look drawings so popular. In Moules’ case, I think it is the combination of what might be considered domestic subject matter, interior product, and a sort of stylised messiness, that drives its appeal. For some, domesticity is all about colouring within the lines, keeping things clean and tidy, rules which mustn’t be broken – a stereotype which screams restriction, whereas free-hand drawing is all about the freeness, the ability to be untidy. Perhaps on some level the combination of domesticity and free-hand drawing is an outlet of rebellion, a chance to be untidy, a metaphor for living without rules. Either way, Jen Moules’ textile designs are without doubt an aesthetic delight to be measured on both their commerciality and form as an artwork. I am certainly a fan of her work, and find it to be both beautifully executed and wonderfully designed.
 
Website: Jen-moules.co.uk 

For me, games like Sims were all about the houses: creating the beautiful home I would someday like to live in, albeit without virtual bricks and mortar. The house pictured above, despite its perhaps understated appearance, is exactly the kind of home I’d like to live in, certainly one I’d strive to emulate on Sims. From the outside, it’s hard to believe how much is fitted into that seemingly small space. Created out of two shipping containers (hence the name), the project was inspired by our increasing preference for large spaces – big houses, minimal furniture to accentuate the bigness. Small and efficient, this house, designed by Studio H:T in 2010, proves modern living doesn’t have to be all about the excessive. Whilst containing all that a regular home needs: bedroom, kitchen, dining, living room and a loft, its efficient interior design and sustainable living (passive cooling, pellet stove heating, photovaltaics) make Shipping Container House appear much larger than it actually is, and much more environmentally friendly.
 
Built on what looks like a cliff face in Nederland, Colorado, its ability to both be safe and blend in must have been crucial. The wooden aesthetic of Shipping Container House may not be a totally seamless blend into the greys and greens of the cliff face. However, what it does is signify the growing need for sustainable and renewable living, especially in a country like America, known for its gas-guzzling cars. The interior also features wooden detailing: the beams in the living room, the kitchen in particular. The house certainly has a raw aesthetic. Sticking to browns and greys, Shipping Container House is the perfect example of simple, sustainable living, while the flat-screen TV and stylish furniture prove this is a house for the modern, technological age.
 
Images: Archdaily.com 

Josef Weichenberger Architects proves that mixing old and new works. Built in Vienna, Austria, this building combines traditional architecture with modern, geometric design. The three story rooftop extension was constructed on top of the Wilhe Iminian-times house by way of renovating the building into a partial space for rented living, including three spacious apartments and one maisonette. So often extensions attempt and fail to blend in with their host building. Something I find refreshing, almost ingenious about the Josef Weichenberger design is its refusal to conform, to simply build an extension trying to look like the traditional architecture and failing. Instead, the design embraces its ‘extention-ness’, it doesn’t try to blend in but is a design in its own right. That said the traditional architecture of the Wilhe Iminian-times house and the modern design of the three story rooftop extension combine seamlessly. The angles of the rooftop mirror those of its host building; the black/brown frames of the windows, and white of the outer walls are echoed in the extension’s aesthetic. It’s a renovation with a difference, embracing old and new to create an updated and stylish building.
 
Images: Archdaily.com 

Name: Marisa Sanvito

Age: 34

Occupation: Textile Designer

Inspiration: Anything

Marisa’s interior pieces are all about buying less and spending wisely. By creating unique, hand-crafted textiles, she aims to instil a sense of individuality in a world now obsessed with commercialism and mainstream culture. Talking about her work, Marisa revealed ‘ [it] is a self-directed project for my 3rd year at University. The brief I set for myself reads: "Based on images of the beautiful (and peaceful to experience) deep sea world as a tribute to the coral reefs tainted by Gulf of Mexico’s oil spill in April 2010, the aim of this project is to gain a better understanding of the challenges of sustainability within the textile industry”. The main task of this project is to create a series of crafted textile products for the less conventional interior/soft furnishing market, which meets some of the ethical and emotional needs that enrich our understanding and experience of the world, keeping in mind the impact these products will have on the planet and their lifecycle’.

Marisa describes her style as ‘Three-dimensional, organic, sustainable’, three things which are easily found in the images above. Although the colours may not scream nature or organic, the materials, patterns and details Marisa has created on the pillow, chair back, boxes and vases are indicative of Mother Nature’s sustainability. It is apparent that Marisa’s appreciation of recycling over buying new started young: ‘Since my grandmother thought me how to knit at the age of 8, I have grown to appreciate and value yarns, fabrics and colours, and their application to our daily lives. Growing up in Milan, Paris and London has driven my fascination of textiles and enhanced my awareness of design. I spent my twenties working in finance though...can you believe it? I remember being happy with the cheque I was receiving at the end of the month, but the corporate world was not for me. My real passion has always been knitting, and when I turned 30 I decided to start my professional life all over again by starting a BA in Textile Design’.

When it comes to creating her works of art, Marisa implements a structured process: ‘Once I have chosen my concept I collect inspiring images, I take photographs and collect relevant bits and pieces...I then pin them on boards and start putting ideas together. This way it’s easy to see what visually works and what doesn’t. I then prepare a moodboard which contains the shapes and colour I would like to work with. I absolutely love colour, and I generally try out lots of different combinations before coming to a final decision…Once I do I order the yarn, and when it arrives the fun on the knitting machine begins! I do a lot of sampling, I manipulate all stitches by hand which means it is absolutely vital to keep a technical logbook on how I do things. This is a very important stage of the work because I can anticipate problem/issues before making the actual product…and finally comes the stage to knitting the actual design piece!’

One thing I find particularly interesting in Marisa’s work is her preference for interiors over fashion or various other textile formats that are perhaps more traditionally associated with knitting. ‘I feel there are loads of talented designers populating the fashion world already, and that I could not bring anything new to that world. I am more comfortable in trying to push the boundaries and apply knitting within the interior market, and the beautiful thing is that there are so many exciting options for me to explore and see how far I can go with it!’ From what she has produced so far, I predict Marisa to go a long, long way, turning the textile industry into her own knitted haven.

Asked what she would like to have achieved in ten years time, Marisa responded ‘By 2022 I hope to have knitted my own house! Just joking...I hope to enjoy a career as designer/maker and being involved in exciting projects!’

Website: Annaemme.com

Architects: Erick van Egeraat and Michiel Raaphorst

This magnificent and eye-catching building is a key factor in Germany’s plans for the redevelopment of the Hafencity waterfront in Hamburg. The aim was to create a connection between the inner city and waterfront. Sumatrakontor’s multi-functionality (retail, offices, residencies) is a vital component in attracting visitors to the waterfront of Germany’s second largest city. With shops and cafes on the first floor, and apartments further up, Sumatrakontor offers a place for the public and home-owners alike.

The use of orange, triangles and skewed perspective give the building a distinctly urban aesthetic, as if taken off the movie posters of Trainspotting and made into an architectural masterpiece. The outer walls facing the streets are made from a combination of glass and aluminium, but primarily, natural stone, juxtaposing the physical world with the urban, human world. In contrast, the inner walls reflect a more peaceful mood, coloured white to welcome home its residents.

Not only a link between Hafencity waterfront and the inner city, Sumatrakontor also marks a substantial landmark on Hamburg’s cityscape.

Images: Archdaily.com

This dynamic and angular property is the creation of head architects, Jiri Opocensky and Stepan Valouch. Built on the outskirts of Svitavy, Czech Republic, this house combines sleek, stylish design with environmental innovation - ‘The garage is disguised as a knoll fashioned from excavated soil’ and the house’s source of heat is a simple fireplace and air-water heat pump. Disguise is becoming an increasingly important aesthetic of today’s architectural projects. Part of the ‘Not in my back garden’ syndrome, architects must find ways of blending their properties into the natural landscape whilst maintaining a certain level of style and innovation within their designs. The outer shell of the house mixes grey/blue cement boards with wooden partitions and skipped fields, offering a window to the landscape beyond. From a distance, on a particularly grey-skied day, this house would appear almost invisible to the human eye.

According to ArchDaily.com ‘the basic concept (of the house) revolves around the division of the house into two halves: northern and southern. The southern half is dedicated to the common family life opening to the sun exposure […] The northern half is intended for the individual family members and contains bedrooms, a hall and technical facilities. Instead of a hallway, the interior layout features a common open area for family encounters.’ Not only is this house a work of architectural splendour; it is also a family home, fit for purpose thanks to the detailed considerations of Opocensky and Valouch.

Images/Quotes: Archdaily.com