Thursday, September 30, 2010

Residential Garden Design in San Francisco

This is a beautiful garden design and cool. One way to enhance the beauty of the home is to attend a garden in our yard. Houses become barren and gives the impression of calm. Especially when summer comes. For this reason Lutsko Associates made a garden in an urban housing in San Francisco.

The concept of this project is an open architecture for daily life, maximizing the impact and experience of a small space. The breakthrough of this sunlight can park with ease because there is no roof in this park. Another advantage is that we can enjoy the garden from the balcony of the second level instead of the inside of the house. Design pays attention to the sensory experience of materials and planting, which contributed to the richness and beauty of the park.

Description:
This city park in the Pacific Heights district of San Francisco around a single family home. The house was designed in 1990 by noted Bay Area architecture firm EHDD under the guidance of the late Joe Esherick. When viewed from two house sites overlooking the balcony, the park is a graph of the composition of space, materials and planting. From this perspective much of San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz Island slip into the views of the city spread out below the property. This park is designed to bring a sense of urban city fabric into the site. From inside, the garden intimately experienced as a sequence of outdoor rooms, their space and design features hidden sequence and expressed as a threshold passing each other in composition.

This park is divided into a series of three enclosed garden room, each tightly defined by the architecture and / or planted edge. Various treatments translucent-edge glass, hand troweled plaster, bronze curved walls, and planting-explore the relationship between the viewer and the adjacent off-site conditions. The walls between rooms consisting of Prunus caroliniana hedge cut, fit within the framework of structural steel. Thresholds between rooms create a sense of mystery and discovery as one moves through the park.

Each room is different in shape and quality. The first room, which requires light and privacy, defined by clear glass that transmits light and reveals the subtle shape of the outer edge of the garden. edge is reinforced by a steaming Pelargonium tomentosum and cacaliifolia Salvia to bring the natural flavor and fragrance into the room otherwise constructed. Osmanthus fragrans sculptural form branched multi-wall plaster, clean end to end view this space. The second room is dominated by the most dramatic elements of the park, a large curved wall made of bronze. From the slot in the wall, water cascades into the basin cut into the pavement beneath. Placed against the wall of the adjacent buildings, water features create a sensual edge with space, quiet introspective. In the third hall, visitors got a surprise vista of the city, bay, and the Trans-America building through the open window like a translucent wall panels. reeded panel's glass-covered walls of the Beaux-Arts fence neighbors recognize pastiche of the city, and is a reference to changing the architectural style from time to time. A lemon tree, espaliered plaster wall, in line with the axial views of the garden.

Park employs a large patch of contrast material to make a bold graphic composition: limestone paving of light that shines in the fog of San Francisco is interspersed with bands of wool thyme; dark granite stone engraved with a spiral pale to generate a mosaic. Restrained planting palette, shades of green and Grey with white flowers give priority to form over color. Bold-textured foliage contrasts dramatically with the materiality of space. The combination of material selection and composition of the structure to respond, simpler forms of home distilled. Park became home to a literal extension of everyday life while still associated with adjacent urban forms. [via]

Dining with a View

Cliff House, San Francisco

San Francisco's Cliff House has been an historic landmark since the 1800s, offering epic views of the Pacific, all the way to the Marin coastline. Dine on fresh seafood at one of Cliff House's two restaurants, while you watch seals frolic in the waves, or maybe glimpse a passing whale.

Sierra Mar, Big Sur 

Also perched above the dazzling Pacific coast is Sierra Mar in Big Sur. The award-winning restaurant offers an innovative, four course, prix fixe menu, which changes daily and features organic and seasonal ingredients. Part of the historic Post Ranch Inn, there's no other place quite like it.

Sierra Mar, Big Sur 

Also perched above the dazzling Pacific coast is Sierra Mar in Big Sur. The award-winning restaurant offers an innovative, four course, prix fixe menu, which changes daily and features organic and seasonal ingredients. Part of the historic Post Ranch Inn, there's no other place quite like it.
 
Skyline Queenstown, New Zealand

New Zealand is one of the world's foremost destinations for adventure travel, and Skyline Queenstown on the South Island is a good place to start. Take a thrilling ride down the complex's wheeled luge course, or ride the gondola to experience spectacular views of mountains and Lake Wakatipu. Enjoy a hearty buffet at the Skyline Restaurant, then head out for a day hike.

Ambrosia Restaurant, Santorini 

Take in breathtaking views of an ancient volcanic caldera and the Aegean Sea from the terrace of Ambrosia Restaurant, one of the most sought-after eateries in Santorini, in the fabled Greek islands. Get a romantic table for two and feast on Mediterranean and modern Greek cuisine. Sample local Greek wines and enjoy a memory to last a lifetime.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Green Home Remodeling in San Francisco

Open Space Concept House renovation with Beau Artificial Pond. This project location on the peninsula south of San Francisco. The concept of Open Space was adopted to get closer to nature. So we also categorize this concept as a concept into a green house.

It was built in the 1950s but recently renovated. A beautiful artificial pond was brought there to give a strong impression - Back To Nature. Family members brought on vacation retreat into everyday life.

The home is composed of four parts - the main room, read or study rooms, a swimming pool of your home garage. Everything is focused on parks, pools and ponds. There is also a terrace around the pool which is separated from the interior with glass sliding doors. Photovoltaic solar roof panels and hide the hot water. Houses are heated by shining on the stone floor system, and although the climate is not hot air, but passively cooled with a combination of overhangs, shades, and windows that can be opened. He also has many green building materials, including high fly-ash concrete, casework and formaldehyde-free insulation denim. [via]


Outside the home garden design.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Create a Mood with Color


Cool colors are relaxing and warm colors promote activity.


Light quality can also vary dramatically throughout the country. Let light shine in whenever possible to create the outside feel inside your home.


Muted browns produce a soothing, suede-like backdrop. Shades of gray can have the same serene effect.


It's good to know color theory basics, but you'll know how a color will make you feel in a room just by living with it.



To balance a strong color scheme, add variations of the same color, just as you find them in nature.



Just because you've painted a room doesn't mean you're stuck with one mood or a static color statement. Example, with this pink wall you can mix patterns, stripes etc. we mix and match in our clothing the same goes for your home docor and accessories.  

Busca Vida House Design In Brazil


Busca Vida House is a phenomenal project from Andre Luque in 2007. Located in Camaçari, North Shore Bahia, Brazil, this house was built to connect with the surrounding environment. Especially the existing vegetation be maintained by the owners and architects as part of this project. Only one small tree has been removed from the site. Houses that use natural ventilation and daylight through large glass panels.


To meet the desire of owners to accept your friends, and at the same time not have their privacy disturbed, the house was divided into two separate pavilions. The first pavilion, designed specifically for the owner, has suites, living room and dining room, kitchenette, kitchen, storage and service areas. Which both have three suites to receive friends. The linkage between the two occurs through the social environment covered with common usage, which is installed in the gourmet kitchen invites. Block to the first pavilion, situated deck and pool area allow the expansion and integration of the internal region, summing up to 445m2 built area. [via]

Monday, September 27, 2010

Minimalist House Design, Just an Idea, Trend, or More Than Necessary?


Minimalist house design, just an idea, trend, or more than necessary? Minimalist style is now a favorite building in the metropolis. General speaking, this model is easily found in public housing, from low-income housing to luxury housing, or in the interior design of a cafe or an office building. The first looks like a uniform, but with detail added to make people know that each home reflects the owner.

Minimalist is a mindset, work, and lifestyle. A new vantage point in viewing design as a reflection of urban lifestyle, which is usually simple, practical, dynamic, and efficient. Creation of architectural buildings, including modern minimalist house, is the choice for form of architecture, born from culture and needs. Not only follow the trend recently.

For that reason, modern minimalist house is equipped with more tangible characteristics, a simple shape and design of geometric space, strong with the empty spaces are minimalist in ornaments and furniture. Selected furniture has multiple functions to accommodate the needs of all family members. Design principle is simple enough so that the quality of design and function space available should be more fit.

But the frequently asked question that usually arises is whether a modern minimalist home should be a simple compartment or any other form? The answer is a form of minimalist modern homes do not have to follow the form of simple or simple geometric compartments. If the house that only needs a simple compartment, it means that the simple compartment is the result of a process of function space needs, not by force or follow the trend.

And then people ask whether the parameters minimalist home means a cold feeling or impression of less fresh? Minimalist form the basis of design and also for the decoration itself. Minimalist here is based on a simple and efficient. minimalist interior is the arrangement of the interior who prefer to the functional and practical. This setting is emphasized on efficient design. Straight line, plane, crossing the surface of which is always 90 degrees, and perpendicular.

Then people are worried whether this is a minimalist design will spend a lot of money or not. The answer is relative depending on the detail of the building itself. With minimalist design, the type of materials used will be effective and efficient. Use of some materials such as wood, brick, stone, glass, or steel can also appear as an individual. The dominance of a particular material will give different effects. [via]

Dining with a View


Beverly Hills Restaurant, Thailand

We begin with the appropriately named Beverly Hills restaurant, a popular spot in Koh Samui, Thailand. Here, guests can relax in the sea breezes and watch the play of light across the water.
Peaks Restaurant, Palm Springs
Visitors to the top of Palm Springs Aerial Tramway can treat themselves at Peaks Restaurant, which offers stunning views of the California desert and glittering city below. The contemporary cuisine is sourced largely from the surrounding Coachella Valley.
Ngorongoro Crater Lodge, Tanzania

Enjoy breathtaking views of the Ngorongoro Crater along the eastern arm of Africa's Rift Valley. And enjoy the food too, thanks to luxury travel provider &Beyond. The region is a great place to see African wildlife as well as traditional Maasai herders.
Cité Restaurant, Chicago

For 35 years, Cité Restaurant has been a Chicago institution, offering 360-degree views of the skyline and Lake Michigan, from 70 stories above Lake Point Tower. The food is French with a focus on seafood and steak.
Albergo Lorelei et Londres, Italy

Overlooking notorious Mt. Vesuvius and the Italian coast, Albergo Lorelei et Londres is a small hotel and restaurant with a big view. An elevator takes guests down the steep cliff to a perfect beach. And the food at the restaurant is widely praised.
Baan Rim Pa, Thailand 

Dine like a king at Baan Rim Pa in Phuket, Thailand: literally! The menu is based on "Royal Thai Cuisine" — dishes formerly found only in the kingdom's Grand Palace. Baan Rim Pa is an open air, two-story affair that provides panoramic views of the spectacular beach at Patong and the Bay of Kalim. Savor the sound of the rolling waves along with your coconut sauce. via

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Entertaining/Recipes/Green Design

Spinach Tagliarelle with Pesto and Cream


Homemade pesto is simmered with heavy cream, then garnished with pine nuts and basil. Italian plate by Match.
 
SPINACH TAGLIARELLE WITH PESTO AND CREAM


Serves 4 to 6

2 cups fresh basil leaves
2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and pepper
1 pound Cipriani spinach tagliarelle (spinach linguine or spinach fettuccine may be substituted)
1 cup heavy cream



In food processor, pulse basil, 1/3 cup pine nuts and garlic 8-10 times until coarsely chopped. With processor running, slowly, add olive oil in a stream until smooth. Add cheese and pulse a few more times. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook tagliarelle in large pot of boiling water according to package directions.

In small saucepan, mix pesto and cream, and simmer. Pour over drained, cooked pasta and garnish with remaining pine nuts and cheese. Serve immediately.

Green Table Decor


Hydrangeas and green spider mums accompany salads of dressed field greens. Antique English leaf plates and green and off-white ticking tablecloth complement the setting.
 
No, this is not Carolyne's version of how we help to save the planet and be responsible conservationists. While I am a strong believer in those worthy endeavors and am becoming better informed in my choices, this green story is about the color green in food and decor. I love green. This wonderful color is one of Mother Nature's impeccable choices for a neutral. Think about how every flower, regardless of color, has green stems and foliage to frame it. Think of how green grass is the foundation and carpet to garden and home, and how truly beautiful a tree is with its canopy of green leaves.

Bruschetta with Arugula Pesto


Marinated tomatoes and Parmigiano-Reggiano top the homemade pesto bruschetta. Leaf plate by Christian Tortu.

BRUSCHETTA WITH ARUGULA PESTO AND MARINATED TOMATOES


Serves 4 to 6

FOR PESTO


2 cups arugula leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and pepper

In food processor, combine arugula, garlic, walnuts and lemon juice and pulse 8-10 times or until coarsely chopped. With processor running, slowly add olive oil in a stream and process until smooth. Remove from processor and stir in cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Yuuummm!!!! Plus pretty decor and tablesetting will always add to the ambiance to make these dishes even more delectable.

Minimalist House Design Level Two in Australia

This is a minimalist house design level two on the beach. Perry Point beach house is a minimalist two-level house located in Coolum, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. A beach home renovation project of the 1990s Architect Owen and Vokes. The new owner wants additional bedroom, bathroom and garage to house their cars. Manipulation of the existing building and the natural topography to form a new relationship between living space and garden.
FIBRO original house appears as a traditional coast to Coolum Steep Hill site as stunted coastal vegetation to collect at the rear of the site. Remaining vegetation assessed as providing a counter to display the sea - a reprieve, dense shade of the panorama of sea and sky. The laying of these extensions retain as much existing vegetation as possible, and as a result, the bridge over the pond that is to occupy the remaining volume-able to build on the site as dictated by the height control. A new re-entry page-oriented, physically connecting the living space for the slope of the hill and provides views of the vegetation is left outside.


Masonry elements of managing the level at the site, forming a new landscape space and the embedding extension FIBRO-clad hillside. At street level, a concrete bunker accommodate cars on site, eliminating the need for steep roads and reclaiming space for a garden overlooked the living room and deck above. Minor excavations reveal page space below what was previously wooden pool deck. Promenade through the site reveals nuance and topographic settings.


Site entrance, located in the center of the site both in vertical and horizontal, externally accessed by climbing the stairs from street level. Existing internal staircase connecting the external circulation route of the road extension to the open air circulation. In extension, a linear porch provides access to the bedroom and bathroom, culminating in a daybed is located to the outskirts of the remaining vegetation.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Minimalist Home Design Beautiful with Natural Garden

This is a beautiful minimalist house design with a combination of natural garden. This minimalist house design projects come from ideas to concrete homes combined with software components such as natural parks. Built at a location near the lake, A-Cero Architects make this house look so fantastic. Moreover, supported by the extension of green scattered in the general area of heritage.

Verandas and pergolas, as volumetric elements such as housing, giving the facade of personality. Concluding like turned into a flat roof disappeared as an expression of the evolution of the creative process. Purity of the forms move into a constructive scheme, with the material and the environment impelling union between buildings and the context where it is located.


Exterior home design minimalist with natural garden.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Designer Finds/Pottery Barn Accessories


Woven Metal Bowl

I love home accessories and I found these great pieces at Pottery Barn. Classical proportions and a distressed finish give this decorative bowl its style. Use it to display botanicals or natural items you discover yourself.

17" diameter, 13.5" high
Made of iron with a gray painted finish.
Indoor use only.

Mirrors reflect the vintage Victorian ceiling tiles that inspired them. Mirrors, especially in great frames, add so much to a room. I totally love these, the frames add a lot of character!!!!

17" square
Made of intricately embossed iron.
Features a rustic whitewashed finish that’s edge-rubbed for a vintage patina.

Inspired by the elaborate, pressed-iron ceiling tiles of Victorian homes.
Each mirror in the set has a unique finish.

Set of 3.
Catalog / Internet only.



LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!!! This has tuscan written all over it. Each terra cotta piece is hand thrown and hand glazed in white with a rustic crackle finish.


Unfinished areas provide textural contrast.
All are watertight; urns feature side handles.
Medium double-handled urn, cachepot and small double-handled urn are shown. via

Home Design Minimalist Mix Box

This is a minimalist house design Box Mix, designed by Manuel Marquez. Mexican architect brings a simple yet full of innovative ideas. Simple shapes with remarkable composition make this project feasible for discussion.

Corner building site in the middle-class neighborhood. This site has only 2150 sq ft. The developer intended to build two small single house but after reviewing the rules of our city to realize that an apartment building is much more profitable. And we can even attach a small commercial space.

The premise of the building is to provide maximum privacy and independence for each unit. We are located at the corner commercial space is and so we separate the garage and access to both units. The building is a pile of boxes, each one on top of each other, with different size and rotation. The volume creates a series of terraces. Inner space is a "cross-connected" so that both units share all stories and a terrace. The result is a very unusual apartment building.