Castle Pines Update

Things are actually a lot farther than this presently but here is a little visual update of the construction progress...

Holy Impractical Design

uh ya...........................

Elysian Hotel Chicago

During my last visit to Chicago my client introduced me to the newly built Elysian Hotel in the Gold Coast, which was nothing short of breathtaking in both beauty and detail.

Designed by well known Chicago based architect, Lucien Lagrange, the exterior architecture and circular drive take me back to the Ritz in Paris which may be a major faux pas, I have yet to decide. The interior, designed by Simeone-Deary Design, is where the heart of this building dwells.

Simply elegant, every detail has been meticulously thought out and pulled together with few loose ends. Surprisingly this is new construction that pulls off the trick many others seem to fail at, it feels centuries old.

http://www.elysianhotels.com

Castle Pines Residence

AERA Studios began work on this 12,000 square foot summer home approximately 6 months ago with Don H. Ruggles Architects and Montare Builders. Drywall has just been completed and the space is really starting to come together. We expect to be finished with this project mid-October... stay tuned...

Modular Wall Tiles Clean the Air!

Earlier this year, Ceracasa, a spanish ceramic manufacturer, pioneering in the production wall and floor coverings, unveiled Lifewall, a modular living wall tile for exterior applications. Lifewall was designed by Emilio Llobat of Maqla Architects, Azahar Energy, and Ceracasa.

The new system uses drip-water irrigation for water efficiency and can support a variety of plantings.

Lifewall works in conjunction with another Ceracasa product called Bionictile. Bionictile is a low-maintenance, ceramic, facade tile that reacts with moisture and ultra violet rays to eat nitrogen oxides in the air.

China Grove art installation by Brent Comber

Medium - Western Red Cedar, white porcelain paint, acrylic panels, wires

Photography by Gillean Proctor

From the artist... "In most of my work, I try to bring the outside inside. With my sculpture China Grove, however, my challenge was to display effectively a part of the forest within a forest setting.

I wanted to create objects that had the look of precious porcelain figurines and present them in an outdoor space that would serve as a natural display cabinet. With this in mind, I treated nine cedar flares—stumps that have been pulled from the ground—with a substance that gave them a china-like appearance.

In a beautiful forest grove, at Salt Spring Woodworks on Salt Spring Island, I hung them all at the same height to give the impression of a base supporting them. The shifting natural light within the grove plays over the porcelain-textured surfaces of the hanging flares and imbues them with a strikingly ethereal quality."


http://www.brentcomber.com

New John Houshmand Table

the man has skills...

http://www.johnhoushmand.com

Whirlpool unvails green kitchen

Whirlpool’s GreenKitchen eco-system prototype was finally displayed at this year’s Eurocucina kitchen show in Milan. Features include an induction oven, solar panels, a dishwasher that re-uses water from the sink and the stove, and a monitor that displays energy consumption and cooking information.

Probably not warm but interesting...

Armani Hotel, opens in the Burj Kahlifa, Dubai

Hold onto your wallets... current rates in USD start at $1600 a night and go up to $8000. At check-in each guest receives a personal "lifestyle manager" aka personal assistant, so I suppose some would say it's worth it.

dubai.armanihotels.com

London Arts Gallery farewell featuring Mike Ballard

Artist Mike Ballard creates an art space for the renowned Arts Gallery which sadly faces demolition around March next year to make way for the expansion of the Bond Street Tube Station. Ballard has covered the entire gallery from floor to ceiling with totally immersed artwork. The artistic archives of almost every age has been researched for inspiration and subject matter. There are skeletal Egyptian pharaohs, lunar landscapes, grafittied train-cars, bonsai trees, pulsars, Dan Brown-inspired ciphers and lightning bolts flying from giant fingers; all locked together Escher-like in a gigantic mural that literally fills up the entire gallery space.

Chickitycheckouthiswebsite…
http://www.mikeballard.co.uk/Home.html

Form + Function is not always a good thing

This gem is designed with the wine connoisseur in mind, the wine connoisseur whom would like to have their hands free to nibble on cheese or update their twitter page whilst sipping on a stellar cab.