Emmanuel Fonte | Music | Art | Leadership
If music be the food of love, play on. Emmanuel Fonte website is about music, art, real estate, architecture, design and decor. Occasionally, I talk about my other passion, hockey.
If you want to put a new office into your home, you may not need to look any farther than the basement. A lower level can be the ideal spot for a home office, since it can offer the necessary quiet and separation from the rest of the home.
Could your basement be a great home office? Consider some tips from design professionals.
TV shows have some of the greatest homes. You’ve got Dallas, the apartment from Friends, the mansion from Fresh Prince of Bel Air. All of these places are decorated perfectly and often have layouts that you can never find in actual homes. In fact sometimes the layouts defy logic. Until now!
Buzzfeed has compiled 15 floor plans from some of TV’s best places to live. Pictured above is the layout for Sheldon’s and Penny’s apartments from CBS’ The Big Bang Theory but they’ve also got layouts of the Seattle pad from Frasier, Carrie’s apartment on Sex and the City, Wayne Manor, Bewitched, I Love Lucy and more.
What I love about TV homes is you never worry about what the rent or mortgage payment is and how that relates to the character’s occupation. So throw mortgage calculators to the wind and enjoy exploring the layout of some of TV’s most interesting homes.
1. Friends
Source: nikneuk.deviantart.com / via: shortlist.com
Source: nikneuk.deviantart.com / via: shortlist.com
Source: nikneuk.deviantart.com / via: shortlist.com
Source: nikneuk.deviantart.com / via: shortlist.com
Source: prod-images.exhibit-e.com / via: markmooregallery.com
Source: prod-images.exhibit-e.com / via: markmooregallery.com
Source: prod-images.exhibit-e.com / via: markmooregallery.com
Source: prod-images.exhibit-e.com / via: markmooregallery.com
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Source: prod-images.exhibit-e.com / via: markmooregallery.com
Source: fantasyfloorplans.com / via: lovelyish.com
Source: fantasyfloorplans.com / via: lovelyish.com
Source: fantasyfloorplans.com / via: lovelyish.com
Source: fantasyfloorplans.com / via: lovelyish.com
Multi-family housing poses unique challenges, as do the budgeting constraints of owning and running a factory in China with living quarters for workers. With a rather elegant and earthy simplicity, this project tackles these problems with aplomb.
KUU architects (with images by Jeremy San of StzernStudio) made this multi-functional residence out of modular three-by-three-meter, brick-walled spaces, split between worker spaces and weekend quarters for the owners.
The white-brick theme is carried throughout at a comfortably human scale, with dark wood and red clay accents adding material contrast.
No single point stands out as the pinnacle piece, which is part of the purpose or the decentralized plan: to have egalitarian, functional and cozy areas for living and interacting. For something made so simply, it is remarkably well-detailed and resolved.
Cabins have re-emerged in modern designs and now can function as houses in their own right. The architects and designers are creating not only functional but also stylish and beautiful. A cabin can make for a great retreat, a home office, a studio or a guest house.
Mountain Hill Cabin designed by Fantastic Norway is going to be located in the mountains. Norway in the area that can only be reached in winter on skis. The building has a sloped rooftop which makes it suitable for skiing. The cabin will be installed late this summer.
Another creation from Fantastic Norway is a Cabin Verdehaugen also located in the Norway. The cabin’s architecture responds to the environment and has complex shape and form.
Log cabin by Thomas Mayer is a prefab music studio cabin designed by Piet Hein Eek. This log cabin is a fresh modern take on traditional wooden log cabins. It has retractable windows designed to closed the cabin entirely.
Dalene Cabin by Tommie Wilhelmsen in Norway is made of wood and has an interesting architecture. Read and see more of Dalene Cabin.
Urban Cabin designed by Fábio Galeazzo located Brazil used to be an abandoned house remodeled into a colorful cabin with timber and granite. The cabin is located at a great site surrounded by greenery.
Sunset Cabin by Taylor Smyth Architectsa is a stylish retreat that stands on a lake shore in Canada. The glass structure is covered by cedar slats through which the natural light, sunsets and sunrises can be seen. The interior is made in birch veneer plywood and includes a bed, storage and a stove.
Vashon Cabin by Vandeventer + Carlander Architects was constructed on a limited site but it turned out very stylish. The glazed walls provide the cabin with plenty of natural light while the wooden wall provides with privacy.
This beautiful cabin by John Maniscalco Architecture in cedar and glass looks simply grand and stunning. It is a bit elevated thanks to a platform on which it stands. The cabin has two levels the first one covered with wood while the second in glass opening the views on snow landscape.
False Bay Writer’s Cabin is a great personal retreat designed by Olson Kundig Architects. The glass-box square structure opens up to the surroundings while featuring retractable wooden panels that enclose the cabin when it’s not in use.
Vermont Cabin by Resolution: 4 Architecture is a stylish prefab dwelling with no electricity or cell phone service which makes it an ultimate family getaway. The cabin is shaped as L dividing the public and private areas and features an outdoor terrace and big windows to let the natural light in.
Old buildings may have a great potential to either carry on their old functions or be transformed into something new. Here are the four amazing buildings that got a second life thanks to architects’ brilliant planning for their transformation.
Convent de Sant Francesc remodeled by David Closes is a church located in Santpedor, Spain. Built between 1721 and 1729 by Franciscan priests the church was long abandoned and its convent complex was demolished in 2000. The church renovation began in 2003 and the original building that stood in ruins was enhanced with some modern elements yet the traces of time and wear were preserved as part of the building’s history. The church was turned into an auditorium, cultural space while the upper levels of the chapels are to be turned into a historical archive.
Another church remodeled and turned into a house is this 1930′s Rotterdam church that stands on the river. Remodeled by Ruud Visser Architects the church wasn’t fully transformed into a regular home. The architects made sure to preserve the parts of the building that recreate the atmosphere of the church as well as added the modern architectural parts to create the rooms and other home features. See more of 1930′a Church in Rotterdam.
This 15th century barn was transformed into a modern house by MOOARC. Originally the barn was made of stone but the architects have given it a makeover by adding floor-to-ceiling entrances and windows. It was turned into a kitchen and dining as well as a formal living area on mezzanine level. The sleeping block with the bedroom stands separately and is linked to the barn with a glazed corridor. See more of La Concha House.
This prefab music studio stands surrounded by the ruins of the Victorian structure in Suffolk. The old foundation was enhanced by a prefab house-shaped studio for artists conceieved by Haworth Tompkins for Aldeburgh Music campus. The two-story studio has an upright piano and a writing desk which makes for a perfect space with no distractions. The natural lighting is aplenty thanks to a skylight and glass door entrances. There is also track lights under the ceiling.
Before transformation
We all know what a sink is. A bowl-shaped plumbing fixture used for washing hands, for dish washing or other purposes. Sinks generally have taps (faucets) that supply hot and cold water and may include a spray feature to be used for faster rinsing. They also include a drain to remove used water; this drain may itself include a strainer and/or shut-off device and an overflow-prevention device. Sinks may also have an integrated soap dispenser. Take a look at some very creative designs.
In these article, as you see in the picture above and as you will see in the pictures below, we bring you some very unusual, modern and, above all, very creative sink solutions. This kind of design of wash basin will, certainly, bring your bathroom a very nice refreshment. Wash your face before looking!
IMAGE SOURCES Copyright @ Colored Wal
Stuck in a small lot with nosy neighbors? No worries: just built up instead of out, like the architects of this home on the remote island Sentosa (near Singapore).
Guz Architects‘ plan was, in part, to create something that felt like a one-story dwelling but sat up above the neighbors, treating the first floor like a basement (conceptually) and the second story with its green deck like a main-floor house and garden, with yet a third story and green roof on that.
A central stair and atrium channel light, breezes and occupants up and down through the core, connecting a sublime terrace above with the more secluded living spaces below.
None of this focus on the upper levels is meant to suggest the actual entry floor was not well-designed, with its own secluded outdoor space as well as relatively-small exterior deck leading out to the water’s edge.
Families are joining forces to cut down costs by living together, and builders are coming up with creative ways to accommodate their needs.
Due primarily to the recession, families are joining forces and living together to save money on child care costs and grandparents care for the children, and college students are living at home rather than getting their own apartment, along with a host of other reasons. Many studies have revealed that this is becoming increasingly common, and builders have had the challenge to accommodate this living style by altering floorplans and adjusting their options. Builders and renovators can no longer simply assume two master suites will suffice, rather private entrances and the like need to be part of the package as if adding another house onto the same structure.
So what exactly does this house look like that has multiple generations living under one roof? How does a floor plan lay out when a graduate student is still living at home at age 23 or when your 81 year old mother has come to live with you because she’s alone, and she’s way too vibrant and healthy for a home?
Enter Lennar’s “NEXT GEN” home, the “home within a home,” which the builder calls a great solution for long-term guests, family members or anyone else who can utilize this innovative space. It’s a complete suite with bedroom, eat-in kitchenette and living room. It can be integrated into a home’s living space or kept as a private residence.”
Lennar is currently offering NEXT GEN homes in Arizona, California, Florida, Nevada, and South Carolina. Below is one of the available floorplans with the additional space highlighted in blue, which includes a private entrance, private garage, bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, kitchenette, living room, and even a private washer/dryer room. Also below is a sample elevation of the style of home offered:
Lennar claims to be the first, but will not be the last builder to embark upon multi-generational housing, as our nation becomes more practical and sheds some of the excess of decades past.
