Herzog & De Meuron

 Herzog & De Meuron are probably one of my very favorite architecture studios. The main reason for this is their lovely use of materials in inovative ways. One of my favorites is the Caixa Forum in Madrid, which I was lucky enough to visit last summer when we went to Madrid and Valencia.

The rusted metal becomes more and more porous as it reaches up towards the sky. The lovely patern creates an amazing light on the inside.

The entrance of the museum is under the main floor. The stairway is the only part touching the ground (as well as the pilars).

A close-up of the rusted material

This is the entrance area. The whole part underneath the floor where you enter the building is highly reflective creating a greater sense of space.

This would have to be one of the most impressive green walls ever! The plants on here are huge! Also the colouring and shapes of plants has been very well chosen.

Inside the resturant on the top floor. The light in here is amazing. It's almost like natural light one would get when light is filtered through tree branches.

The lovely shadows created by the porous material.

Architecture doll house III

This is the third entry about the Architecture doll house that I've been making over the last few months. I wanted to update my old doll house (exhibition box). The old one had pink flowery wallpaper, old wooden furniture, etc. I really liked it as well but I wanted to create a modern doll house that showed some of the trends going on now. It'd be fun to make a new one every 10 years or so to see how design changes. What do you think? In this dollhouse I've included some of the trends of the last few years and perhaps future ones (?). You can see the progress of the doll house by looking at my previous enteries: I and II.

Included in the doll house I have made:

- A Random Moooi lamp.

- 3 Benjamin Hubert lamps which I hung in a twig to get the scandanavian naturistic style.

- A clock without numbers straight on the wall

- A cement kitchen island with gas

- A wooden rustic benchtop/table overlapping the cement kitchen. Cement has been a material used a lot in the last years and the combination with wood has become a classic.

- "recycled" materials such as the wine cork. (It has been in to use old wooden crates with writing on them)

- Grey rustic woolen rug.

For instructions on how to make these objects check out the previous enteries. I and II.

After doing the final touches yesterday the dollhouse is (almost) finished. I drilled 3 holes in the top to hang the lighting, glued the carpet on (I only noticed that the edge was lose after looking at the pictures, so that is fixed now). I drew a clock on the wall. I was undecided whether to draw the type of clock with the big numbers (just 12, 3, 6, 9) or like this. I also added the cork as a pot holder, an unused "benjamin hubert lamp" as a vase, and put some toothpicks in a clay jug for decoration. The only thing missing I think is a colourful painting in the background.

The kitchen table is made from soft wood used for architecture and boat models. I added a "glass" sheet that interlocks with the wooden benchtop. The glass has a horizontal slit and the wooden piece has a vertical slit.

A close-up of the Moooi Random light, the clock, and the corner with various objects. The cork I thought resembeled well the "recycle" approach to architecture and design that is popular nowadays.

View from above of the cement kitchen island with a wooden benchtop/table. The wannabe Benjamin Hubert lights are hanging from a twig from the ceiling.

This was a slightly earlier version. I took away the beer bottles in order to give less untidy look.

Architecture doll house II

My doll house is coming along well. For the begining of the "making of" click here. Yesterday I made the cement kitchen out of DAS. Das dries completely after about 2 days (depending on the size of the object you make) in room temperature. I did it in two parts: first the bench top and then the part that the benchtop sits on. When it had almost dried I used staples to make the gas stove.  I let it dry benchtop down in order to make sure it would remain straight.  I also made four lampshades out of cement that were supposed to resemble Benjamin Huberts cement lamps. Not sure if I suceeded but I really like them. I'm only going to use 3 of them and hang them on a twig that I found on my terrace the other day. Quite a scandinavian look I think. 

The making of the kitchen and Hubert lights.

Setting up the stage.

The cement items are left to harden.

The Benjamin Hubert lamps.

The kitchen section. The lights are going to go diagonally over the kitchen top and not hang out the front like this.

A detail of the kitchen top. Staples were used in order to make the gas stove.

Another version with the Moooi lamp. The Random Moooi light will hang in the corner of the left side.

Architecture doll house

I decided to re-new my doll house. I have lovely porcelain dolls that my grandma hand made! I also have some beautiful wooden furniture that I was givien to by my grandpas syblings when I turned 12. I used to love playing with doll houses when I was a kid and perhaps that was the begining of my architecture career? I also played with Lego, so I'm thinking that these two things combined were good for developing my creativity. This isn't actually a complete doll house but more like a "show room".I started looking at modern furniture for dollhouses this Christmas and realised that they are extremely expensive! The mini models of famous furniture such as the Myran chair, cost the same amount as a full-sized one. So that's when the thought came along that I should make my own mini-furniture. I had already made a Mies Van der Rohe chair for a university model so I knew that it was possible. That chair was in a smaller scale than this room will be but at least I knew it was possible. All the furniture won't be copies of famous furniture. So far I only know I'll make a "Moooi Random light" and a Benjamin Hubert light. There'll be a cement kitchen with a rustic dining table. And maybe a library area in the oposite corner with a bookshelf (have to deside which one in that case). So far so good. I will post another entry later on with the updates!

Creative sewing_penguin jumpers

 I finished making the Christmas presents for all the kids about a month ago! They took a bit longer than I had expected to make so they got them a bit late. But at least then they don't get all the presents together, hey? They're all unisex using a brown velour fabric and details in a olive green jersey fabric with brown and white penguins!
The velour fabric is so soft and cozy!
I started by making the largest one for Lava (4) and worked my way down. The second two were for Tova (3,5) and Johannes (3) then for William (1,5) and Lima (1,2) and the last one was for Vida (0,5). I'm going to make one more but since the baby will be born in the middle of May so I still have some time! 
It was a lot of fun and very satisfying at the end, but I think next year I'll just buy the presents ready-made! :)

 Jumpers for Tova (3,5), Johannes (3) and Lava (4).

 The largest of the jumpers for Lava, age 4, is a bit more "mature" without the penguins on the pocket.

 Close-up of the hood.

Detail of the penguin fabric on the sleeves.

Adorable Lima (1,5). Could you ask for a cuter model? A quarter malaysian and 3/4 swede. SO cute! 

Lima, 1,5, modelling the penguin jumper.

My cousin Jenny's beautiful daughter, Tova (3,5).

Cutiepie Tova (3,5) modelling.

Sweet Tova (3,5).

 Lava (4) and Vida (6 months).

 I love this cheeky photo! Sweetest sisters in the world! Lava (4) and Vida (6 months).

Here's Johannes eating a yummy ice cream. Isn't he sweet? It seems like I made the sleves too long for everybody.. 


Just waiting for one more photo (william) and the collection will be complete. I also have to make one more jumper for my boyfriends sisters baby-to-be, which will be born in the middle of july (can't wait!).

Louise Kamman Riising and Pernille Kaalund

 As usual whenever I post something on here I always get super excited. This is a styling project done by Louise Kamman Riising and photographed by Pernille Kaalund of Heyhome design. Now to be quite honest I couldn't find much information about this particular work despite the photos are all over the internet. And I also don't know how many of the individual pieces of furniture and design were just chosen by them, or whether they were created by them. For example this first bird lamp is so cute. I'm pretty sure they exist out there as I have seen other photos with it (I'm soo gonna steal this idea for the future, despite I've already made alterations to it in my mind). The twig lamp is also super sweet (I have alterations to that as well, hehe). As a whole I think this styling project is very nice and wholesome.