When it comes to outdoor materials for landscaping, I tend to get pretty excited about concrete. It has the potential to be a great DIY material, produces great clean lines, and will hold up to all the elements. With the huge rise in DIY concrete countertops, I'm surprised that we haven't seen more people taking those same skills outside. The Viteo Cementum Fireplate shown above is simple shape that would be easy to reproduce and would make an amazing urban fire pit. The only trick would be a fuel source for the flame. I believe you can either do a gas fire pit using parts from a Heat & Glo kit, or just use an alcohol gel.

Does anyone know of any documented DIY outdoor concrete projects?

The April 09 issue of Dwell arrived in my mailbox this week and I've been poring over all the great before and after photos. It never ceases to amaze me how a building can be so completely transformed. Take this home in Toronto, for instance. Homeowners and architects Christine Ho Ping Kong and Peter Tan took this back alley warehouse and turned it into a warm, livable modern space.

When Ho Ping Kong and Tan found their site 
back in 2001, it held a building you could literally back a truck into: a contractor’s warehouse with 
a storage yard. Yet the two-story concrete-block structure seemed like the perfect place to begin. “Here, you don’t have to conform with the facades of the street,” Ho Ping Kong says. And the building itself “was so elemental—a block and an empty space,” Tan says. “It was perfect. We weren’t paying for things we didn’t want to use and we could experiment with all our crazy ideas.”

Today, it seems that their idea isn’t so crazy after all. They’ve rebuilt the warehouse as a two-story home for themselves, their children, and their growing business. From the outside, there’s not much to see: Most of the warehouse’s walls remain, the front door is notched into a blank facade, and the yard is hidden behind a rampart of concrete block. “When we first moved in, a lot of neighbors didn’t even believe this was a house,” Tan recalls.

Well, Spring is almost here and I have to admit that I'm a little unprepared for all those landscaping projects I wanted to do. There are so many different ideas floating around in my head, I'm having a hard time narrowing it down! Each time I think I know what I want, I see something else that just blows my mind, like the work of Amir Schlezinger, a garden designer from the UK. His portfolio is full of inspiration for smaller spaces, many of which feature a captivating combination of textures and materials. I am especially fond of his use of low maintenance plants as well as dramatic lighting. Check out his website for more inspiration!

About:

Amir Schlezinger studied Garden Design at Middlesex University and Capel Manor College in London and graduated with a BA (Hons) in 2000. He has designed and managed numerous projects since, cultivating a particular interest in roof gardens.

www.mylandscapes.co.uk

Great little video about preserving the iconic "Doo Wop" styled architecture in Wildwood.

Does anyone know any good websites for Mid-Century architecture preservation?

Some more inspirational architecture and interior photography for your viewing pleasure! Today's photographer is Richard Powers, who currently lives and works in France (by way of Australia, originally from the UK). This self-taught photographer has an incredible eye for composition and an equally substantial client list: Vogue Living, Wallpaper*, Design Within Reach, and Urbis, to name a few.

More:
Richard was commissioned by Thames & Hudson to photograph houses in Brazil, Florida, New Zealand and Singapore, which resulted in the book Tropical Minimal, released in 2006. In 2007, Thames & Hudson also published his study on the work of architect Geoffrey Bawa called Beyond Bawa: Modern Masterworks of Monsoon Asia. They went on to published his third book in 2008, called Dubai: Growing Through Architecture, which is the only book, so far, to record the historical development of architecture in this city.

See Richard's A M A Z I N G portfolio here, you won't be disappointed!

  

Truly one of the greats! Unfortunately the music on this video isn't as good as the pictures. Still worth a watch though.

Jens Passoth is a German photographer with an absolutely stunning portfolio. His architectural work is truly inspiring! You may recognize some of his work from Dwell as well as from the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award finalists - he had the good fortune of photographing the Oslo Opera House for this prestigious contest. Be sure to take a look at the rest of his portfolio as well!

Jens Passoth Photography: www.passoth.de

Continue reading for more photo's.

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I was looking around Flickr at photo's the other day and I came across Modern-R-Us' photostream. It is filled with all sorts of great Mid-Century modern content, from vintage photo's of MCM homes and furniture to recent photo's of restored MCM homes.

Check out the full photoset on Flickr.

The five finalists for the 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award in architecture have been announced, and boy, that will be some tough judging! I'm having a hard time choosing a favorite, especially between the Zenith Music Hall in France, and the Oslo Opera House in Norway. The winner of this prestigious award will be announced in May.The five finalists are:

Multimodal Centre-Nice Tramway / Nice, France / by Marc Barani - Atelier Marc Barani Zenith Music Hall / Strasbourg, France / by Massimiliano Fuksas, Doriana Fuksas - Massimiliano Fuksas Architecture

University Luigi Bocconi / Milan, Italy / by Shelley McNamara, Yvonne Farrell - Grafton Architects

The Norwegian Opera & Ballet [Oslo Opera House] / Oslo, Norway / by Kjetil Træaedal Thorsen, tarald Lundevall, Craig Dykers - Snøhetta

Library, Senior Citizen' Centre and City Block Core Zone, Sant Antoni District / Barcelona, Spain / by Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem, Ramon Vilalta - RCR Aranda Pigem Vilalta Arquitectes

If you were seated on the European Commission, which one would you choose?

Images via Dezeen

MIT, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex, Cambridge, MA. Architect: Charles Correa

Xeros House, Phoenix, AZ. Architect: Blank Studio

I've got architectural photography on my mind and thought I'd share some great work by NYC-based photographer Raimund Koch. His portfolio is pretty impressive and definitely worth a gander. There's a subtle quality to his work that I can't quite put my finger on, but that I find immensely appealing. Maybe it's the film he shoots with - I'm pretty sure he's still shooting film, anyway. You might recognize some of his images from Dwell, whom he's shot for frequently. Other editorial clients include House&Garden, Architectural Digest, Wallpaper*, and Wired, to name a few.

Panel House, Venice CA. Architect: David Hertz

Casa Delpin, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Architect: Nataniel Fuster

Ravetch Observatory, Ghent, NY. Architect: Wendy Evans Joseph

Check out his website for more eye candy and be sure to look at his "landscape" portfolio - which includes some great images of the urban landscape.

All images by Raimund Koch - www.raimundkoch.com

I saw this home in the most recent issue of Western Interiors & Design and thought it was a great example of what a modern home should do - engage the local landscape while employing its own unique aesthetic. This excerpt from the article sums it up pretty well:

From afar, the house that Lori Ryker and Brett Nave designed in the Wapiti Valley, Wyoming, evokes the freight trains that still rumble across the high prairie. Each room is clad in overlapping materials and separately expressed in a linear sequence of interconnected volumes. But the designers see it differently.

"We took our cues from the rock formations and their varied colors," says Ryker. "The exterior forms were shaped by our thinking about the interiors, and we strove to make them an integral part of this wild and beautiful landscape."

See more/Read more here.

What defines a modern home to you? The objects that go in it? Sustainability? Its contextual relevancy?  

Share your thoughts!

A lot has been going on over at Utahmodern.org the last couple of weeks. Tristan of Mid-Century Mod-ification felt the effects of the recession when he lost his job as an architect in a two partner firm. As luck would have it he was able to get a job doing contract work for Hunter Douglas, which has some pretty cool projects. Tristan were pulling for you and hope it turns into a full time gig!

Carina of Mid-century Modern Utah fame started up a blog and mused about Ethan Allen, shared some photo's of a sweet MCM home in Provo and announced an opportunities for locals with a MCM home to get some professional photo's taken for free. Any takers?

We've also had some more great people join our little community. If you're in Utah, love design and haven't signed up yet, head over there and sign up today.

UPDATE! Here is an awesome video David sent me a link to. It's an animation of Falling Water, and it's pretty impressive.
Fallingwater from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo

Falling water was one of the first pieces of Architecture I remember being really amazed by. Here is a quick little tour of the famous home and a little background on the master that created it.

Maybe it's the unseasonably warm weather this week, but I can't stop thinking about Spring - the clean air, the sense of hope, and the birds. I thought I'd take a look and see what the lovely people of Etsy had to offer in the way of bird feeders and then I found some of the craziest/coolest feeders I've ever seen. These one of a kind bird feeders are made from an assortment of materials - acrylic, steel, and rubber - and are all handmade and designed by Jenny of Red Yellow and Blue Ink. Unhappy with the styles that were offered in stores, Jenny set out to design her own bird feeders. She's been selling them via word of mouth since 2005 and recently added them to her Etsy shop.   

About the feeders: "This is my own design and I have made this feeder using a bevy of various hand tools. The hanging wire is stainless steel cable. A variety of colorful rubber washers on upper and underside of the roof. The body is made of cell cast acrylic, a great material that can handle extreme temperatures hot and cold. The non-absorbent acrylic is also great for maintaining a clean feeder, which is very important for the health and well-being wild birds."

I don't know about you, but I am just floored by the ingenuity and straight up style of her designs!

One of a kind bird feeders sure to delight any avian passerby from Red Yellow and Blue Ink from $60 - $75.

About this time last year I made a goal to completely plan out a modern landscape design for our backyard, with the intent of implementing it in the Spring. I read a few books, looked at a lot of websites, and did a few doodles. But, then the weather turned warm and I got distracted. Now it's a year later and I would really like to revisit this goal of designing a modern landscape for our little plot-o-land, so that when Spring rolls around again I'll be ready to take action! I've found some great inspiration on this Flickr group called, what else, Modern Landscaping.

Can anyone else suggest some awesome sources of inspiration? Have you been in this boat before? What tips and advice do you have for those of us who want to tackle a landscaping project? Your thoughts and stories are welcomed with open arms!

Images from, left to right, Marty52, modular.garden, and rolu dsgn.

I keep hearing that our current economic recession is going to spawn a new decade of affordable design. While the jury is still out, one can always hope. Luckily with projects like the i-House it looks like there just might an air of change in the wind. The i-House is a prototype to be manufactured by Clayton Homes, the largest builder of manufactured housing in the U.S. Sure if you look to close you can tell it's just a single wide house with a butterfly roof stuck on top, but for $100,000 what do you expect? The interior also sports some nice Ikea cabinetry and what looks like a fairly open floor plan. With a smorgasbord of eco options available it looks like a pretty good deal. Let's just hope that the projected pricing doesn't get to inflated before it actually makes it to market.

Check out a virtual tour here.

Via our friends at Jetson Green

When I think of Eero Saarinen I always think of the Tulip chair, however after seeing this short clip, I'm left speechless about the TWA terminal in New York. What an absolutely fantastic building.

What's your favorite work from Saarinen?

While this video doesn't have a lot of vintage footage, it's great to see some of his work from the 60's still preserved. I've added staying in suite 606 to my list of things to do before I die.

Here is a great little history lesson on some great Mid-Century heritage; Bauhaus.

While there are lots of other blogs that I follow, there are only a few that I can really strongly relate to. Atomic Indy is definitely one of those. Sticking with the true grassrootsmodern movement, Barrett recently bought a nice mid-centruy home, and has been completely redoing the interior of it. He recently has been getting his kitchen finished off, which included ripping down a wall and starting completely from scratch. You can see why I relate. They were lucky enough to get most of the kitchen done by Thanksgiving, and it's looking great!

Check out Atomicindy for more remodeling fun. Also make sure you drop by 100k house to see how the modern new construction in Philly is going. They are doing a great job of building a modern green home for a reasonable budget. SIP's are up and it's really starting to look great!

Check out 100k house.