Lotta has both a deep appreciation for nature’s limitless beauty and a love for modern urban style. The balance between these two worlds is unequivocally present in Lotta’s contemporary organic designs.

Link: Lotta Jansdotter
Via: urbanSPY

We really like the way that the construction and framing of the structure is honestly expressed. Glulam beams, plywood, structural steel and hardware are exposed and featured as design elements. Large windows capture views of Mount Hood and the Willamette Valley.

The overall effect is a design that is both modern and regional, and we're all about that! Beautiful.

Firm: Scott | Edwards Architecture

This one is rather close to home for us L+L folks... one of us grew up in Pasadena and was inspired by the local architectural tradition from a very early age. Though Pasadena is perhaps best known for Arts and Crafts architecture, especially Greene & Greene and the Gamble House, the city boasts a significant collection postwar residential, commercial and institutional structures.

Lecture: The Modern Suburban Paradise - March 16, 2005, 7:30 p.m.
Tour: Pasadena Modern Tour - March 20, 2005, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Link: Pasadena Heritage

As a whole, the show, organized by Peter Reed, a MoMA curator of architecture and design, signals the refreshing debate that is emerging over how best to deal with the legacy of Modernism.

Reputedly the best annual garden show in the Southern Hemisphere, the show has featured some stunning contemporary gardens in past years. Designers will include Mark Browning of Cycas Landscape Design, Jamie Durie of Patio Landscape Design, and many others including four students from Australia and New Zealand competing for the Fleming Student Award.

Link: Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show

global guru designs and manufactures a diverse variety of contemporary collections in many different colourways and repeat sections. These surface patterns can be translated into a variety of interior accessories and fashion pieces.

Link: Global Guru

No longer the handmaidens of architects, landscape architects are building huge parks, some on a 19th-century scale, on polluted industrial spaces...

Miya Ando Stanoff is a minimalist metalworker; employing steel and pigment to create quiet, meditative environments. Working solely in two-dimensional metal panels, she is ultimately interested in the study of subtraction to the point of purity, simplicity and refinement.

Link: Miya Ando Stanoff [Thanks, Miya!]
Link: MocoLoco San Francisco
Link: Zinc Details

Cambium (kam' bë um) a layer of formative cells located below the bark of woody plants, reproducing by division and creating new growth.

Their website features a nice portfolio of five residential projects, and we are particularly impressed with their skillful selection of plants for color and texture to create striking effects. Superb design and execution.

Link: Cambium

Written by Michael Freeman and published back in August 04, Space explores Japanese architecture and design in size constricted areas.

In their work, Japanese interior designers and architects constantly draw on cultural traditions, while using a modern, even radical approach. Whether in the use of lightweight partitions to create flexible spaces, deliberate profligacy to give a feeling of generosity, or strange perspectives, the results are not mere workaday solutions, but artistic and unusual ones that can turn a lack of space into a surfeit of style.

Edit Furnishings doesn't appear to have any exclusive designs, but they do offer an interesting collection of furniture, objects, lighting and art. They are located in Newark, a town in the (south east) San Francisco Bay Area.

Link: Edit [Thanks, John!]

The goal of Mixture is to create a fun, friendly, service-oriented environment that takes the intimidation out of contemporary and modern furniture/gift shopping and feature an ever-changing inventory. Developed to take a young and fresh approach to contemporary design, Mixture exudes a relaxed atmosphere, one that welcomes questions and thrives on educating customers about the intricacies of modern design.

Link: Mixture Designs
Link: Design*Sponge [Thanks, Bryan!]

Our rugs combine contemporary aesthetics, bold graphics and clean styling for a unique design element in any setting. Each design is available in custom colors. We can also customize a design especially for you.

Our rugs are very low maintenance. Care and maintenance is much like caring for hardwood flooring. Simply wipe clean with a damp cloth. Occasionally give your rug a good cleaning with a mild cleanser such as Murphy's Oil Soap. Abrasive cleansers are not recommended as they can damage the protective finish. In addition, our rugs are a great consideration for those whose health is adversely affected by traditional floor coverings.

Now, this topic isn't exactly sexy or fun, but you need to use something to keep your home clean... especially if you are lucky enough to own one of these slick modern glass and concrete houses that we like to feature. And trying to find good products that aren't detrimental to your health and the larger environment is a challenge. A post at Cascadia Scorecard Weblog points us to a website that can help you locate eco-friendly products. And of course, our good friends at Treehugger have a couple of suggestions as well.

Link: Eco-Labels
Via: Cascadia Scorecard Weblog - It's Not Easy Cleaning Green

The garden terrace synthesizes the architecture and the landscape within a shared modernist vocabulary. The loft architecture and landscape sustain a symbiotic relationship where each is enriched by the other, managing light and form outside of the traditional garden-residence paradigm.

Link: oslund.and.assoc
Link: Anmahian Winton Architects

ZALI expresses man’s natural striving for necessary aesthetics. Aesthetics that have actual function and which are also a delight to the eye. A combination of robust, high quality natural materials and the stringent strengths of metals provides a living reflection of expression.

This reflection wanders forever with the changing light – where nothing and everything is new at the same time.

Link: Zali

Founded by Petrus Palmér, John Löfgren and Jonas Pettersson, this Swedish design collective is focused on product and furniture design. The group also produces a wider range of work including graphic design, illustration, concept design, product visualization and interactive media.

Their designs are funky and fun, but clean and modern... and we're liking it!

Link: Form Us With Love

Their duvets are made from 400 thread count fabric and are 100% cotton.

Update - 2/21/05: Grace over at Design*Sponge is serving up scoops, so I'd like place an order for 2 of my favorite scoops. Mmmmmmm! I promise I won't spill any on the sheets. :-)

Link: Amenity Home [Thanks, Gwen!]

To commemorate the occasion, we have somewhat arbitrarily chosen nine (+1) past blogs, not a "best of" list per se... but, whatever... here it is...

Drum roll, please...............

We are people passionate about and dedicated to the appreciation of Modern Architecture and all things related. We are here to provide two services: a place for pertinent, interesting, changing information about Modern Architecture and Modernism and to provide real estate services for people wanting to buy or sell a Modern home.

Link: 360° Modern

Link: Po Shun Leong

Designer: Johnson Chou
Link: nienkämper

The area has been re-dubbed New Islington, and a new splashy flashy website (as noted at Archinect) details the concept for the new project and history of the neighborhood. Sustainability and context is the name of the game.

Link: New Islington
Designer: Alsop
Developer: Urban Splash
Reference: Urban Splash (Land+Living)

Adam Aaronson Collection is a range of stylish functional glass developed in a contemporary colour palette and fired with silver or gold leaf. These pieces are all handmade to Adam's designs, in our Earl's Court Studio.

First, the quality of the craftsmanship is obviously very high. Second, the organic designs are artful and well conceived. Third, there is a wonderful "found" quality to the work and nice use of materials. And finally, the designer is based at Lake Tahoe, and I really miss living there...

Cline, the artist/craftsman behind Roundwood, lists Dr. Suess and Salvador Dali among his heroes, and it is easy to see that free-form candor in his work. Cline makes all kinds of furniture from beds to chairs as well as custom interior finishing work.

Link: Roundwood - [Thanks, C Louise!]

Several years ago my wife and I drove 3 hours to get to, what was then, our closest Ikea store in Emeryville, California. The store had just been opened for a couple of weeks, and was the first store in Northern California. Upon our arrival just after store opening at 10:00 a.m., we were greeted by a full parking lot and a mass of people flooding into the store - apparently crowds would wait outside the store more than an hour before opening each day.

Everywhere inside there were people pushing through crowds and franticly wading through merchandise as if it were a contest. And there were lines... long lines: to place our order; at the concession stand; at the register; and at the service warehouse desk waiting for our purchase to come out. We had just a few items on our list that day and had planned to spend some time in the city after we were done… but it didn’t happen.

Five hours later, we emerged from the store… tired, hungry and beaten by the experience. We loaded the car and started the long drive home.

And at the end of all that, we had come to a conclusion: no, it was not worth all of the hassle. But what other choice did we have to get reasonably well designed items that we could afford?

Press release: Ikea - An incident at the opening of IKEA Edmonton
Article: BBC - Crush chaos at Ikea store opening
Image from Waxy

I have been inspired by the work of Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto since early in my architectural education. His work continues to be a strong influence in the design world; everywhere from architecture to consumer products (Ikea owes a heck of a lot to Aalto).

Muchos Aalto linkage for your browsing pleasure, and more Aalto talk follows.

Link: Alvar Aalto Foundation
Link: Artek
Visit: Alvar Aalto Museum
Link: Aino Aalto (book available through Aalto Museum)
Link: Iittala (Aino Aalto glassware)
Link: Alvar Aalto Houses (CD-ROM by Opulens)
Link: Baker House (MIT student project website)
Web Exhibition: Aalto Chairs
Web Exhibition: Paimio Sanatorium

So, what on earth does this chair have to do with Katja? Absolutely nothing other than it reminded me of a project in my high school woodshop class which then reminded me of Katja.

Link: Modern Object

Eric's forthcoming book, The Inevitable Architect: The Steps to Green Architecture, shows other architects how to become green.

Link: organicARCHITECT - The Inevitable Architect: The Steps to Green Architecture
Via: Enviropundit

The first prize student winner, Sean Wheeler transformed recycled billboards and train cars into the comfortable, flexible “pMod”: a portable, modular dwelling that combines the upgradeable adaptability of the PC with pleasingly domestic elements like roof gardens, courtyards, and porches.

Of course, bamboo fences are a Japanese design cliché, but Mark Mortimer has taken on bamboo as a material, not a design theme. His Auckland, New Zealand based company Bamusero produces bamboo fencing, furniture and special projects and employs various techniques to expand the possibilities of the material. Why not use bamboo as an architectural cladding material? Nice work!

Link: Bambusero
Via: Grow-a-Brain

"I've been toying with the concept of lighted furniture for a while now. I like the idea of creating small discreet sources of low light scattered around a room and using point sources where more illumination is needed (i.e. for reading). One method of doing that is embedding lights within furniture. In the case of this table the light is provided by two 1W LED's. It shines both up and down. The light up is very pretty, but not particularly useful (you can't read by it). The light down illuminates the bottom shelf, in our case the home of our stack of current magazines."

Link: Glen Hunter
Link: Hunter House, Scott Morris Architects

Update: Check out MocoLoco's coverage of the Hunter House.

Realtor Doug Kramer of Long Beach, California bills himself as a specialist in midcentry modern properties... and, what the heck... he's got some good stuff on his website including a gallery of some restored/remodeled homes, as well as some decent history and general info.

Link: The Long Beach Cliff May Ranchos (from Doug Kramer's Ranchostyle.com)
Via: Archinect (nice find, Alan)
Also: Amazon - Western Ranch Houses by Cliff May
Related: The World of Eichler Design (Land+Living)

Originally posted 1/25/2005

UPDATE: Doug Kramer strikes again! And this time with a nicely designed and updated website with even more midcentury design... Cliff May and beyond!

Link: SoCal Modern [Thanks, Raena!]

Urban living space in the west is becoming increasingnly crowded; conditions that the Japanese have coped with, and their architects have gained much experience dealing with, for quite some time. Japanese design patterns are bound to be adopted by Western architects and this book makes a point to showcase some of the finest small home design that Japan has to offer.

Release Date: May 2005

Link: Amazon
Author: Azby Brown
Publisher: Kodansha International

Link: A9.com
Via: Urban Cartography - Hotlinking the Yellow Pages

This is a pedestrian bridge built in 2000 connecting two parts of a large shopping mall designed by a collaborative team of Kathryn Gustafson (Gustafson Guthrie Nichol), Ellerbe Becket and Anderson & Ray.

It is an interesting solution to a utilitarian need; a pedestrian connection across a parking lot and busy street, and the mediation of a change in elevation. The bridge is called the "Bridge of Gardens," a ridiculous name probably dreamed up by the mall, but that name does at least hint towards the marriage of landscape, engineering and architecture.

I have seen this published before, but never with more than a couple small images... so check it out... I went overboard on the pics just for you.

Firm: Gustafson Guthrie Nichol - Landscape Architecture / Art
Firm: Ellerbe Becket - Architecture
Firm: Charles Anderson (formerly of Anderson & Ray) - Landscape Architecture
Firm: HNTB - Structural Engineering
Link: South Coast Plaza

I was in Orange County yesterday and I made a point to seek out this famous garden which I have overlooked many times before. I knew that it was hidden away somewhere amongst the office towers and car-oriented avenues, and the discovery of this calm pedestrian space upon exiting a typical parking garage was at once calming and mind-blowing.

So now, at least ten years after I was made aware of this landscape, I have finally been there... and I took lots of pictures for your perusal. This description of the garden is is far more in depth than our synopsis.

Link: Noguchi Museum - California Scenario
Landscape Architect: Kammeyer and Associates
Reference: Isamu Noguchi Stamps (Land+Living)
Reference: The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum (Land+Living)

Nani Marquina's rugs are handmade with 100% New Zealand wool. Their rugs are not crafted with child labor and they are a member of Care & Fair, an organization that fights against illegal child labor in the manufacturing sector of handknotted carpets.

Link: Nani Marquina
Link: Care & Fair
Link: Mocoloco