Author: designer

Showcasing a simple cubic volume integrated directly into the surrounding environment, this gorgeous residence, designed by Lischer Partner Architekten, is a three-storey holiday house located in the splendid mountains of Switzerland, above Lake Lucerne in Vitznau. Taking full advantage of the challenging topography of the site, the project features a highly original layout and offers impressive views of the Lake Lucerne landscape.

In order to meet the client’s expectations of having a timber house, but also taking account the exceptional hillside location architects envisioned a solid construction that acts like a hard shell, enveloping and protecting the soft core of the timber house, the natural warm wooden interiors. The prefabricated timber frame cassettes were erected, sealed and insulated on site, then clad with a single skin of concrete.

The exterior concrete appearance of the holiday house was realized in Wesen gravel which take the graininess  and  the reddish colour of the prominent rock face behind the house. The timber structure stands as ‘a house in a house’ and the combination with the hard, concrete shell makes it possible the optimization of its load bearing size as it does not have to resist any shear forces. The main entry is accompanied by a garage, while a bridge leads into the home from an open courtyard

The interiors are filled with modern furniture pieces and the fact that the entire space  (floors, walls, ceiling) is executed in larchwood block panels ensures a cozy and welcoming atmosphere. The timber can also be seen from outside through the openings and recesses. Fixed floor to ceiling windows framed in larch provides fantastic views of the lake and the mountains. What is the most unique about this cubed project is that it camouflages itself into the rocky mountain on which it’s situated. This boxy abode blends into the surroundings being surrounded by mountainside forests. The family rooms, such as the dining and living rooms, are situated on the top floor. The bedrooms on the two lower floors are accessed by two opposing staircases. This feature creates a corridor through the structure which leads to various rooms that vary in orientation and have different outlooks. Have a look at the pictures below!

Photos © Roger Frei

Project details:

Design team: Lischer Partner Architekten Planer AG
Client: Christiane und Louis Berns, Luxembourg
Completed: 2011
Location: Vitznau, Switzerland

Designer Sebastian Bergne created last year for Luceplan brand a striking lighting object that expresses complex design thinking where form and function are well balanced. This results into creative, highly original shape that seems to pay tribute to art and practicability in the same time.

“Curl”, as it was entitled, is a table lamp with a futuristic design in the form of a half-moon for indoor use. The Curl lamp consists of a special LED module, that allow the user, through a simple rotation of the diffuser, to vary the temperature of the white light, from 2400 to 3500 degrees Kelvin. A dimmer function has also the switch at the center of the base. When the lamp isn’t lit, it’s a stylish white, semicircular object, but when it’s on, “Curl” is very bright, creating a diffused light in the rest of the room. The light, which comes from its base,  illuminates the body in die-cast aluminium, which acts as a reflector due to the opaque technopolymer injection molding. Very interesting, isn’t it?

Synonymous with innovative faucet designs, Brooklin-based firm Watermark Designs has been the leading producer of decorative plumbing fixtures, lighting and elegant hardware, and bathroom accessories for the luxury commercial and residential segment, for more than three decades.

Over time, they worked with some of the world’s finest designers and architects producing remarkable high-quality products and original collections specifically customized to meet client’s precise specifications. Their success is largely due to an intelligent combination of sustainable hands-on designs with an eye towards architectural detail, and state-of-the-industry equipment.

Drawing inspiration from the surrounding nature, Watermark Designs pushes the edges of faucet innovation and design by enveiling their latest collection of faucet handles entitled “Zen Collection”. The original-looking collection is really something completely new in faucet design, because they were able to utilize rocks and stones in ways never used before.  It’s contains quartz faucet handles, carved by Stone Forest, and rocks hand-picked from the shores of  the Great Lakes in Michigan, ideal to create a spa-like bathroom interior, warm and very inviting. A favorite rock garden of Avi Abel’s was the inspiration in designing the appealing “Zen Collection”.

The idea was to make faucet handles that would be similar to the counter or vanity material as possible, to blend in beautifully that you almost could not tell where the vanity ended and the handles began, so rocks and stone were the perfect choice. The handles are secured to counters using rare earth magnets, eliminating in this way the need to use set screws and improving the look of these handles. Moreover, the shapes of the rocks are rather irregular, so this contributes even more to their organic and natural appearance they have. Therefore, the quartz stone handles seamlessly integrate into the look of the counter, thing that isn’t possible with a traditional brass or nickel handle.

The “Zen Collection” of handles is available for any Watermark Designs faucet in any configuration, giving designers virtually hundreds of design options. The stones are available in the following colors: Ice White Onyx, Honey Onyx, Nero Marquinha, Carrara Marble and Multi-Color; while the rock colors are: Winter Morning, Harvest Light Beige, Mountain Midnight Dark and Harvest Dark.

For more faucet designs with distinguished look, check out also the KLUDI BOZZ line.

 Photos © Watermark Designs