Building Ideas

Frank Owen Gehry (born Ephraim Owen Goldberg, February 28, 1929) is a Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles.

His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions. Many museums, companies, and cities seek Gehry’s services as a badge of distinction, beyond the product he delivers.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

His best-known works include the titanium-covered Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, Experience Music Project in Seattle, Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Dancing House in Prague, Czech Republic and the MARTa Museum in Herford, Germany. However, it was his private residence in Santa Monica, California, which jump-started his career, lifting it from the status of “paper architecture,” a phenomenon that many famous architects have experienced in their formative decades through experimentation almost exclusively on paper before receiving their first major commission in later years. (more…)

WALKING HOUSE is a modular dwelling system that enables persons to live a peaceful nomadic life, moving slowly through the landscape or cityscape with minimal impact on the environment. It collects energy from its surroundings using solar cells and small windmills. There is a system for collecting rain water and a system for solar heated hot water. A small greenhouse unit can be added to the basic living module, to provide a substantial part of the food needed by the Inhabitants. A composting toilet system allows sewage produced by the inhabitants to be disposed of. A small wood burning stove could be added to provide CO2 neutral heating. Walking house forms various sizes of communities or WALKING VILLAGES when more units are added together. Walking house is not dependant on existing infrastructure like roads, but moves on all sorts of terrain.

Each unit is equipped with the basic systems for maintaining everyday life for a maximum of four persons. But it could easily be scaled up for larger family structures. Furniture is an integrated part of the structure. The module can be constructed from numerous materials. It is based on a framework made of steel, aluminum or wood and can be covered with steel, aluminum, wood or even semi- permeable textiles. Windows are made of polycarbonate. Insulation could be anything from thin plates of Polyethylene to wool.

Walking house could easily be equipped with specialized modules for various forms of productions like greenhouses, small factories etc. A Walking house or a Walking village could supply means for the inhabitants to make a living in this way while moving through the Landscapes and cityscapes. As an example a Walking village could be specialized in foodproduction or special modules for fishfarming, greenhouses and so on could be part of the construction.

Technical specifications:
Basic module:
Height: 3.5 meters
Width: 3.5 meters
Length: 3.72 meters
Weight: 1200 kg
Max speed: 60 meters/hour
Component list:
Plating and framework wood and plywood
Legs made of steel and mechanical components
12 linear actuators
solar panels
micro windmills
polycarbonate plates
interior equipment

Read more here

Sky high prices of real estate in the contemporary world have stimulated the search for and development of alternative housing solutions. One such attempt is the ConHouse system of small-size housing container units, which takes the housing/office ISO container to the next evolutionary level.  As opposed to the other container projects, which mostly feed on the excess of available cargo containers, ConHouse pushes the development of containers manufactured especially for housing and office purposes.

Even though the past 20 years have significantly changed the face of architecture, the basic form of these containers has remained the same. The ConHouse system now upgrades them to enable a quality of living comparable to classical housing. This is achieved mainly through rationally designed ground plans, carefully selected materials, a well-lit interior and the customized outer appearance of individual units. By enabling its occupants to coshape their compound unit according to their particular needs, ConHouse takes after the inventive automobile industry, where car owners can choose the components they desire, and after the IKEA-developed winning recipe of interior design.

The 2+ is a two-level mini housing unit composed of two containers perpendicular to each other. It shows that a minimal number of containers combined in an innovative fashion offers fresh yet functional architectural solutions. The upper container provides a projecting roof above the entrance as well as serves to shelter the back terrace. The ceiling of the bottom container is also a terrace of the first floor.

The pink-dotted facade illustrates the wide range of possibilities for tailor-made exteriors, the choice of which is as simple as deciding about which mobile phone cover to put on. The system’s modular nature enables containers to be added to or subtracted from the compound as needed, so that the ConHouse can grow or contract depending on the actual spatial needs of the people using it. Lower prices of such live/work units make them competitive as compared to traditional housing and are intended to increase the number of home-owners, who can then use the extra cash to expand their living space or invest more into interior design.

See more pictures here

A Cape Cod is a style of house originating in New England in the 17th century. It is traditionally characterized by a low, broad frame building, generally a story and a half high, with a steep, perfectly pitched roof with end gables and a large central chimney.

The Cape Cod style (and in turn its Colonial Revival descendant of the 1930s–50s) originated with the colonists who came from England to New England. They used the English house with a hall and parlor as a model, adapting this design with local materials to best protect against New England’s notoriously stormy weather. Over the next several generations emerged a one- to one-and-a-half-story house with wooden shutters and clapboard or shingle exterior.

See pictures of some cape cod cottages:

The Reverend Timothy Dwight IV (1752–1817), president of Yale University from 1795–1817, coined the term “Cape Cod House” after a visit to the Cape in 1800. His observations were published posthumously in Travels in New England and New York (1821–22).

Dwight described them as having “one storey… covered on the sides, as well as the roofs, with pine shingles… the chimney is in the middle… and on each side of the door are two windows… the roof is straight. Under it are two chambers; and there are two larger, and two smaller windows in the gable end.”

Dwight described a “full Cape,” made by doubling the small house unit or “half Cape” which would have been familiar to early English colonists like the Pilgrims. The “half Cape” could also be multiplied to make a “house-and-a-half” or “three-quarter Cape.”

Twentieth century Cape Cod houses often have dormers. The chimney is usually placed at one end instead of at the center. The shutters on modern Cape Cod houses are strictly decorative; they can’t be closed during a storm.

Traditional, Colonial-era Cape Cod houses had many of these features:

• Steep roof with side gables
• Small roof overhang
• 1 or 1½ stories
• Made of wood and covered in wide clapboard or shingles
• Large central chimney linked to fireplace in each room
• Symmetrical appearance with door in center
• Dormers for space, light, and ventilation
• Multi-paned, double-hung windows
• Shutters
• Formal, center-hall floor plan
• Hardwood floors
• Little exterior ornamentation

More information at: Wikipedia, About.com, Pilgrimhall

Fire furniture square by schulte design

Real hot! The latest showstopper from the Krefeld design hotspot Schulte Design amazes with fire and flame. They emerge directly from the top of these extraordinary fire-furniture pieces. But do not worry! Nothing gets burnt here. The exclusive lounge tables are crowned by a stainless steel top, in the centre of which a special inset is built, where it is quite simple to light a romantic fire.
This effect is made possible by a special liquid, which burns without smoke or gas and therefore without risk. A sliding cover, also made of stylish stainless steel, locks the fireplace when the longing for romance and cosiness is satisfied. Or the evening is simply drawing to an end. Thanks to the innovation of Schulte Design, the times when dripping candles or sooted wind lights dampened our moods, are finally forgotten. And even those who have long dreamt of blazing flames in an open fireplace come a hot piece closer to this illusion with the fantastic fire furniture.

The tables are available in various dimensions. And thanks to their elegant form they are a centre of attraction not only on a cosy winter evening. Even without the play of flames these shapely purist pieces are a proven eye-catcher. Each piece of fire furniture is manufactured from the “fruity-spicy” woods of the Tutti Frutti collection. Olive, apple, plum, walnut and wild cherry belong to Schulte Design. All these solid woods impress with an interesting and lively grain, which makes each piece of furniture absolutely unique.

TRAVELMATE MOBILE

TRAVELMATE Mobile fireplace without a flue

The travelling fire. The technology of smokeless fire combined with a weather resistant powder coating offers one thing in particular – releasing the fire from being in a fixed place in the home. TRAVELMATE makes it possible to set up an individual, full-value fireplace and source of heat that really sets the mood, with no complications and wherever you want it: On the carpet, on the dining table, next to the sofa, on the terrace, or in the garden, now the atmosphere of the fireside can be enjoyed anywhere. The formal design as a stylised suitcase unmistakeably conveys the notion that this is an item not bound to any fixed location. A cheerful fire blazing in the unit completes the concept of a fireplace that really wants to be free of its shackles. The glass pane, which is held on with magnets, is only removed in order to light the fire. Once the glass pane has been replaced, the fuel tank can be opened and closed, using the stainless steel slide at the front of the fireplace, thereby allowing the flames to be regulated from the outside. Now the glass pane once again protects the fire.

The base for your TRAVELMATE for indoor – just place your travelling fire on the base without any mounting and enjoy a new perspective. The circumferential bottom makes sure that the fireplace is standing safe.