Category: Fireplaces

Whoever thinks time travel is not possible if come work with me sometime. I recently had a fantastic blast from the past once I was called by new owners to look at a house they’d just bought. On the phone the house was called a “fixer,” and the owners were stumped about where to start.

It ends up the fixer was a keeper. The house was a midcentury timeless unusual for the area in which it was located. The previous owner had the property for 40 years, and several of the original details were there. This sort of thing consistently causes heart palpitations for me, so that you can imagine my delight as I thought about sharing my observations with midcentury lovers on .

It was quite interesting to see real details of the iconic design versus translated details that have been watered down. I noticed some of my favorite details as I walked through the house.

These details in different houses specify a midcentury aesthetic to your own attention.

Swatt | Miers Architects

Textured exterior wall. As I walked up the driveway, I noticed a horizontal rock accent wall just near front door, quite similar to this one. There is nothing like rock to provide a textured layer of detail.

Falling Waters Landscape

Double-wide entry doors. “This will be good,” I thought to myself as I approached the double-wide front door with an enjoyable colour painted on the exterior. It welcomes guests using a “Hey, I’m hip” attitude.

H3K Layout

Entry water feature. I looked around after I rang the doorbell and noticed that an original water feature only to the side of the front door. The water feature was geometric and low and reminded me of The Rat Pack at the ’60s.

Three Legged Pig Design

Terrazzo floors. Once I was welcomed inside, I stumbled onto the most lovely white terrazzo floors. Oh, only pinch me! The terrazzo floors ran through the large entry and the main hallways of the U-shaped residence.

Design Within Reach

Wood-panel accent wall. Just beyond the entry, there was one wall of vertical-grain timber paneling in the living area. The timber was a natural equilibrium to the tall ceilings and oversized windows that revealed an incredible hilltop view.

Vintage pendants. In the living area in a corner were those kooky pendant lighting. I imagined a game table where guys with cigars would sit and play poker while listening to Marvin Gaye.

Sixties wallpaper. On an accent wall in the living area was a kitchy background in a fun colour. The pattern was disappeared but 1960s.

JayJeffers

Oversize windows. The living area was oversized and behaved as living area and family room. The ceilings were pitched out toward the opinion. The ceiling extended beyond the sliders and continued outdoors, which made the gables look endless.

Daniel Sheehan Photography

Transom windows. The next room was a dining area. There was a wall that separated it from the kitchen. The wall had transom windows on top, which let beautiful light to the kitchen. The long and low windows added into the contemporary aesthetic.

Barker O’Donoghue Master Builders

Retro tile. Just as I was thinking about all of the fantastic midcentury details, I turned the corner of the main hall and discovered ’60s-inspired tile in a small powder room. “That’s definitely staying,” I thought. The colours were green and blue and so charming. What a blast! Turns out the little “fixer” just needed some new paint and new furniture. Wow, do I love my job!

Inform us about your midcentury home. Does it have some original specifics?

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You would like a shrub in that dry corner, but no shrub will get the job done. You want something which looks different. You want superlow maintenance. I’ve got just the right perennial for you: Baptisia is a quick-growing, uniquely blooming wildflower native to regions from the U.S. Central Plains to the East Coast. It does the work of a shrub but requires less water.

Missouri Botanical Garden

Botanical name: Baptisia australis
Common names: Blue wild indigo, wild blue indigo
Origin: Native in regions from the central Great Plains to the southeast and northeast U.S.
USDA zones: 3 to 9 (find your zone)
Water requirement: Medium to dry clay, sand
Light requirement: Full to partial sun
Mature size: 3 to 4 feet tall and wide
Advantages and tolerances: Easy perennial; drought tolerant; offers winter interest; attracts native bees
Seasonal interest: Good two-week blossom period in spring, followed by ornamental seed bombs that make a rattling sound
When to plant: Spring to fall

Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Distinguishing attributes. Spikes of tropical blossoms in mid to late May attract beneficial native bees (that can be better pollinators than honeybees). In spring the emerging spikes seem like asparagus, and in fall the seedpods are both decorative and rattle gently for added sensory interest. Baptisia’s size makes it like a shrub, but it has the quick growth of a recurrent flower.

Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

The best way to use it. Use Baptisia for height and as a filler in the back or center of a dry edge, en masse, in groups of three or as single accents.

‘Carolina Moonlight’ (revealed) is a lemon-colored cultivar that performs exactly as well as the species plant. There’s also Baptisia australis var minor, which is a shorter variety that grows to about 2 feet tall and wide, and blossoms purple like the species.

Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens

Planting notes. Wherever you put Baptisia, make sure that is the final spot in which you would like it. Baptisia takes a couple of years to blossom, and it has a deep taproot (which makes it quite drought tolerant), so it reacts poorly to being transferred.

‘Twilight Prairieblues’ (revealed) is just another cultivar with dusky purple petals and a yellow base. Its leaves are inclined to be a smokier blue compared to species plant that is parasitic.

More flowers to attract birds, bees and butterflies

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The way the inside of a house gets trimmed out contributes greatly to the overall nature of that house. In many ways, a well thought-out trim design can turn a drab and plain vanilla inside to something complex and rich, in addition to architecturally dynamic.

Among the most intriguing methods to use trim is because a connective element to connect together the elements within a distance and to fortify the area’s architecture. So when placing out trim, a few architects and other designers will often look for ways to use trim to connect windows, doors, soffits etc. and to use trim to set up datum points or spring lines where other features arise. The trim becomes a sort of ribbon which holds the wrap paper in place.

In these examples, the trim, whether painted or stained, is usually flat and easy. The profile of the trim is much less important than the way the trim travels around the room creating relations and framing elements.

Smith & Vansant Architects PC

Trim installed just like this creates the illusion that the wall is nothing more than a screen which can be moved. It is not surprising that this type of trim installation gained awareness and popularity in the late 19th century, when Japanese buildings started to become known in the West.

Smith & Vansant Architects PC

The door to the left and the windows on the right are attached and held in place with the ribbon of trim. There’s something to be said for intellectual rigor used to set up all the measurements in order that each element is connected and uses the same reference points.

Sarah Susanka, FAIA

Taking one place, say the top of the windows, then drawing a line from there all around the room, gives a logic and rationale to the placing of different characteristics above and below online. Now the upper cabinets and port hood have a reasonable place to be.

Sarah Susanka, FAIA

And soffits become deliberate rather than afterthoughts because we must conceal the pipes and the ducts.

Wayne Windham Architect, P.A.

Using trim to connect and bind elements works just as well in a massive space as in smaller, more intimate rooms. By establishing a reference point and then placing windows , more trim, railings etc.. below this, the enormity of the distance is reduced.

Wayne Windham Architect, P.A.

Surely these ribbons of trim can connect the first floor to the second floor, so elements are attached horizontally in addition to vertically.

Mark Brand Architecture

As stated earlier, this use of trim has a distinctly Japanese quality. Walls are made to feel much less structural and load bearing and much more light and movable. However, the American strategy was less rigorous than required by the Japanese tatami.

Taliesin Preservation, Inc..

Surely it was this strategy to trim which Frank Lloyd Wright reveled in. And in Wright’s work it had been the intricacy of the trim that created for an architecturally rich inside. So rather than simply a continuous ribbon, the trim line could vanish to a rock mass, popping out the other hand as it turned a corner.

More:
8 Parts of Interior Trim

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From ombré bookshelves with moving components to geometric outdoor shading and light fixtures made of Velcro, designers at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) showcased plenty of eye-catching and innovative layouts. While their creations may not make it to the local retailer in the near future, these designers are worth keeping an eye on.

1. Walltech

Would you tell what’s at first glance? Figuring out that these colorful and ombré wooden pieces would be the Korean company Walltech’s take on the modern bookshelf.

The bookshelves are made of fundamental wire grids, supported by a steel framework. Colorful painted wooden pegs are placed in every square and may be removed or corrected as needed to make the desired amount of shelving.

2. California College of the Arts and Wilsonart

California College of the Arts (CCA) students worked with Wilsonart to make unique chairs from Wilsonart laminate, inspired by California. Student Kaii Tu’s Torrey seat was inspired by the shapes of this windswept pines on the California coast. And Tu created this shape using computer-aided layout — a tribute to Silicon Valley.

CCA pupil Jeni Tu’s Linea seat takes its bold shape and color from the Los Angeles landscape. The curving shape echoes the endless overpasses and iconic architecture of that city, although the red is a clever nod to the always-present red taillights on the freeway.

3. Weplight

Argentina company Weplight revealed a new assortment of stunning wooden lighting. Its designers have worked together with the company’s own flexible timber veneer since 2001, allowing them to produce these elegantly curved fixtures.

4. Christopher Roy, Why Not Bespoke

Christopher Roy’s Why Not Bespoke line has roots in traditional Amish furniture. Inspired by the utilitarian designs of those pieces, Roy works with Amish craftspeople to acquire the shapes, pieces and forms for his more modern pieces.

5. Eastvold Furniture

Custom choices for handmade pieces were plentiful at the ICFF this year. Eastvold Furniture in Minnesota offered the opportunity to choose the inside and leg colors of this new credenza.

Eastvold’s Elko Credenza is made of walnut, white oak or bamboo and comes with six base color choices.

6. Pratt Institute and Carnegie Fabrics

Pupils from the Pratt Institute worked with Carnegie’s new Xorel woven fabrics to design an intricate, hand-folded structure. The piece is created completely from squares of Xorel, folded in precisely the same pattern to make a three-dimensional geometric shape. Each bit is shaded blue in the middle, just barely visible from the interior.

7. Symbol Audio

Symbol Audio made its debut at the ICFF this year. Its stunning pieces possess a timeless but modern look that has captured the hearts of audiophiles and layout lovers alike. The Modern Record Console has all of the classic style of a midcentury hi-fi games together with all the comforts of the 21st century. A built-in turntable; a converter for iPod, iPhone, or iPad; and an incredible sound system are housed within this hand-crafted bamboo and walnut bit.

The Tabletop Hifi is a more accessible piece from Symbol Audio that delivers the same high-quality layout, and it’s offered in a variety of shades and finishes. A conventional speaker design allows it to provide an incredible level of audio for such a small bit. Cables from the back make it effortless to hook up to a beloved electronic or analog device.

8. Rachel O’Neill

These wild light fixtures look as though they’re made of piles of folded ribbon, but Northern Irish designer Rachel O’Neill accomplishes this look with yards and yards of Velcro. The Velcro is hand dyed, carefully folded and put around an aluminum framework to make these daring bursts of light.

9. Humanscale

Humanscale is known primarily for its revolutionary office furniture but wished to present a more playful side of the business at its ICFF stall this year. Emphasizing the technology side of its goods, it generated a new wireless light system. The tasteful rings light up when they are hanging from the brass wall hooks but turn off as soon as they are removed.

10. Iacoli & McAllister

Well known for its simple but daring lighting, Iacoli & McAllister brought several new fixtures to the ICFF this year, such as the Cinque. Shown in brass, this pendant plays with light and shadow within an eye-catching geometric form.

Several new objects debuted at the ICFF as well. This table displays just a few, such as hexagon-shape paperweights, a brass sage-burning pyramid and hexagonal jar openers.

Watch more reports in the ICFF 2012

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When you are furnishing a little area, concentrate your radar with legs that are exposed. Maintaining open space between floor and furnishings is a little design idea with big advantages; it may mean simply baring a bit’s stems instead of hiding them behind upholstery or bedding. Prior to purchasing your next sofa, bed or vanity, think about the aesthetic rewards of those leggy options.

Jarlath Mellett

By some criteria, this living area may be considered on the side. But contemporary furniture avoids entirely that feeling with exposed legs. Notice the way the armchair’s design is reflective of a typical sturdy build, yet when compared with the thin legs of these tables and sofa, it seems balanced instead of bulky.

Tim Cuppett Architects

A design that includes only furniture together with bare legs feels complicated and breezy. The eye can identify a constant path through the space, resulting in a open sensation even though the space is completely furnished.

Amy Lau Design

Furniture raised off the ground helps the eye concentrate on other different features — like an incredible city view.

Reaume Design & Construction

A four-poster bed can offer an atmosphere of luxury to a space but can also be visually demanding. Let it stand tall without the bulk by deciding on a design which features lengthy legs, and be sure that your bedding doesn’t fall under the framework.

Rachel Reider Interiors

The same goes for furnishing your eating area with a banquette. Instead of deciding on a built-in that extends to the ground, go with a freestanding bench raised on legs to provide a lot roomier appeal.

The Lettered Cottage

If you are dying for additional counter space in your small kitchen but dread a island will cramp your space, consider one with legs. You’ll achieve an excess work station without the visual volume.

The Sky is the Limit Style

An island on thighs also works nicely if you are attempting to fit an eating area in a bigger kitchen. Additional furnishings bulk up a space generally, but they’ll work if you decide on leggy pieces.

Celia James

Tight bathrooms enjoy a vanity . Mirrored paneling further opens up this little bathroom.

Show Us Your Legs

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Sarah Macklem’s kids have various thoughts about Halloween decorating than their mother has.

“The children love severed body parts and all of that stuff,” says Macklem with a good-natured shudder. A home stylist located in suburban Detroit, she forgoes disembodied limbs to get a seasonal decorating style that looks elegantly understated, but is sourced mostly from thrift stores and discount retailers.

To keep things complicated, Macklem builds upon her home’s black and white palette, overlaying touches of autumnal color in things like dishes and towels, while rendering familiar objects in unfamiliar ways. (White ceramic pumpkins, anybody?) Her seasonal handiwork extends up around Labor Day and culminates in a neighborhood Halloween party at her residence.

“Decorating is my entire life,” says Macklem, “and that I take advantage of every opportunity I have to take action.”

The Yellow Cape Cod

If it comes to seasonal decorating, Macklem exerts a mild touch. Color sets the mood in the dining area, where the basic black and white decoration is dotted with touches of autumnal color. Proportion plays a pivotal role in her convivial tablescape: Linens and dishes fill out the tabletop without making it feel crowded.

The Yellow Cape Cod

“I have a fascination with mixing and matching table settings for vacations,” says Macklem, who augments her regular dinnerware with paprika-colored bowls she sets out just for fall, and shameful dishes she picked up in a thrift store (eight place settings for $10).

The designer made the runner out of a sheet of tapestry-weight fabric, attaching grosgrain ribbon to the edges with fabric glue. The opposite side is black, black, red and gray, so she simply transforms the runner over for Christmas.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Macklem paid $12 with this vest in a thrift store. It was a little musty, so she removed the drawers spelled out that the piece for a week, then primed and painted the interiors of the drawers to eliminate any remaining odor.

She painted her favorite black (Martha Stewart’s Silhouette), and now employs the piece in her dining area to store serving pieces and business files. (The dining room doubles as her design office.)

The Yellow Cape Cod

Macklem focuses on her seasonal decorating on areas such as the dining area, living room and entrance. “We do a lot of Halloween parties,” says the mother of three, “so I try to focus the decoration on the chambers where we do our entertaining.”

The Yellow Cape Cod

Macklem forgoes that the skeletons and cobwebs, including orange cushions to a number of the chambers to pick up the seasonal theme.

The dining room walls are painted in Crevecoeur out of Martha Stewart Living. A gray with undertones of green, the color is among those in-between shades that appear to change based on what accents accompany them.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Ties composes the names using a liquid chalk mark, and chalkboard location cards at every plate round the napkins. When the party’s over, the tags could be wiped clean and used again.

The Yellow Cape Cod

For your centerpiece Macklem paired coloured sunflowers in the supermarket with hydrangeas cut out of her backyard. She likes using natural components like twigs and flowers in her holiday decorating. “That helps keep it from appearing kitschy,” she says.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Artificial pumpkins in the craft store are piled in a tiny basket out of Sam’s Club. If Macklem doesn’t have the time to pick up flowers, she simply places this in the middle of the dining table.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Orange throw cushions are inserted to the living room in the fall, as are the orange mats framing the silhouettes. Macklem painted the monogram on a piece of MDF, and paired it with a heap of artificial pumpkins plus a series of medallions that say “Trick or Treat.” The thrift store spider was a concession to the children’ desire for something creepy.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Macklem chose the home’s black and white color palette a part to make the interior more conducive to decorating. She just switches the accents out for every event.

The Yellow Cape Cod

If the holidays approach, Macklem turns the living room bookcase to an improvised butler’s pantry, filling it with supplies for entertaining. “This house is ready for a celebration at a minute’s notice,” she says.

The Yellow Cape Cod

The bottom shelf is filled with baskets of artificial pumpkins. Even storage could be amazing if you use the right container!

The Yellow Cape Cod

A black thrift store cat poses beside a vintage-looking sign. Macklem found that the seasonal homily on the world wide web, produced a replica on her color printer and added that the framework.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Colorful towels add a seasonal accent to the powder room. “I wanted a little pop of orange in the fall,” Macklem says.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Macklem was married in the fall. Her mum dried some of the flowers from the wedding and utilized them to make a wreath, which she introduced to the newlyweds when they returned from their honeymoon. The wreath still looks great and hangs proudly on the front door. “We think it’s a indication that our marriage was intended to last,” says Macklem.

The Yellow Cape Cod

The children are almost always late for the school bus, therefore Macklem suspended this helper in the hall. The clock is a reproduction from Pier 1, which was marked down to half price because it had been ruined. Since the end was already distressed, Macklem could not tell the difference.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Cornstalks are easily obtainable from farms and roadside stands — although some of those big-box merchants sell them. Macklem strapped a couple of to the pillars on her house (the origin for the title of her company, The Yellow Cape Cod) and paired them with other autumnal accents.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Seasonal plantings add a festive touch to the urns by the front door. This season Macklem used mums in the supermarket; final fall she planted boxwood.

The Yellow Cape Cod

A trio of loosely piled gourds adorns front stoop. The gourds are a nice choice to pumpkins, Macklem says. “They come in many more shapes and colors.”

The Yellow Cape Cod

Macklem picked up the lanterns at Sam’s Club. They came festooned for Christmas, so she removed the additional adornments for autumn. The candles are battery powered and are controlled by a timer.

The Yellow Cape Cod

Son Max gets to the autumn spirit in the yard.

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My husband and I recently moved in the apartment which got no direct daylight into an apartment which has direct daylight for at least half the day, if not more. The difference is routine if not life altering.

Now I’m getting up with the sun early in the morning, obviously (no alarm clock), and that will help me go to bed at a decent hour. It’s also no more depressing to operate from home — we’re saving money by taking fewer trips to Starbucks just to escape the flat.

And although I have not noticed a new utility bill, I’m convinced we’re going to be saving money by using less electricity for lighting.

The advantages of organic lighting simply cannot be overstated, and there are lots of methods to get it in to your home. For one, CalFinder, a nationally remodeling company, states that if you put in enough clerestory windows — these shallow panes of glass near the top of a wall — your home might not require electricity during the day. And you may require less central air conditioning, especially in temperate climates which cool down in the evening.

Like all new or renovation construction jobs, it is very good to speak to the professionals prior to making any big conclusions, but here are a few examples of how clerestory windows work to get you started.

FINNE Architects

When you are considering incorporating clerestory windows for more natural daylight, then also consider how much warmth you want to include. Clerestory windows on the side of your house will create more heat from the sun in winter.

The clerestory windows with this escape by Finne Architects in the Cascade Mountains in southern Washington not just add light and warmth during the snowy season, but also visually raise the roof. This prevents the building from looking too top heavy, especially when it’s piled with snow.

Harry Braswell Inc..

A low-emissivity coating to also will reduce heat loss.

BMF CONSTRUCTION

If you want to reduce heat, do the reverse: Install clerestory windows on the north side of your home, which will allow natural light in through the cooler part of the day. You could even set up them wherever tree shade will filter direct sunlight.

Consider installing clerestory windows in unexpected locations for optimum natural daylight. For example, the clerestory windows on this garden shed by BMF Construction reduce the shed’s reliance on electrical light.

Furman + Keil Architects

Think about adding windows between rooms. Within this endeavor by Furman + Keil Architects, the windows move daylight from the bedroom to the adjacent room.

Tracy Stone AIA

Clerestory windows in a toilet can be installed rather than (or in addition to) tubular daylighting devices as a means to bring natural lighting in.

As just 1 part of a whole-house daylighting strategy, clerestory windows can save 75 percent of the electricity used for lighting.

RWA Architects

Clerestory windows set high on the walls are often protected by roof overhangs, which let sunlight in but protect the home from summer-sun warmth.

Retractable awnings can supply the best of both worlds, ” indicates the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors: When they’re retracted, the home receives more heat and light during the winter; whenever they’re out they protect the home from summer sun.

Bud Dietrich, AIA

With no windows, this kitchen would be dark, regardless of the white cupboards. Cabinet space would be lost if windows were inserted. Clerestory windows are the perfect solution here.

And when windows such as these are operable, they’re also able to save cooling costs in the summer by allowing hot air to rise and escape.

Sandrin Leung Architecture

Inform us : Do you have sufficient natural lighting in your home?

More:
Energy-Efficient Windows: Decipher the Ratings
Tubular Daylighting Devices Bring in More moderate
Energy-Efficient Windows: Understand the Parts
The High Life: Clerestory Windows
Bathe at the Light of Clerestory Windows

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A bridge is normally considered as something that traverses a river, a street, or another border. In the realm of residential buildings it might carry over a pond, ravine, or another part of the landscape in order to attain the house. But it may also be something indoors. This ideabook presents some bridges that traverse spaces indoors, linking different elements of a house in striking ways.

Browse modern stairways

This bridge with handrails that seem to float in mid-air straddles a tall living space and connects the first and second floors. You ascend the stair at the foreground, cross the bridge, and ascend again in the opposite direction from whence you came.

At bridge level, it is apparent that the glass walkway adds some enthusiasm — or vertigo — to the act of moving up or down a level.

Chris Donatelli Builders

This is another glass-floor bridge, even although the more robust guardrails give a more powerful sense of safety when crossing it. Unique here is how the roof pops up to allow for passage throughout the space. The architects take advantage of this with windows on both sides along with a skylight bringing lots of light into the space.

Chris Donatelli Builders

Another view of the bridge shows how it’s put above casework dividing the living and dining areas. In this regard the glass flooring can help to bring light to those spaces.

This bridge takes advantage of this space under a ridge linking two limbs at an angle to each other. The numerous angles of the bottom of the roof and program give the view a dynamic quality.

Elad Gonen

Equally dynamic is this second-floor box connected by a stair and a bridge.

This bridge sits below a long skylight that brings light to the path and the bigger space. The glass block helps to make the motion along with the bridge throughout the area special.

John Lum Architecture, Inc.. AIA

This is another bridge capped by a skylight. Notice how the bridge is a metal grating that allows light filter to the space below.

I like the way this little bridge lines up with a couple openings in the distance, giving the impression that it lasts outside.

Equinox Architecture Inc. – Jim Gelfat

In this complex area, two bridges are observable: the one from the middle photo below the skylight serves the top floor and can be put directly over another stair. Both use metal grating to bring light throughout the space. Notice how each bridge has cable guardrail on one side and a strong one on the flip side, the latter with integral lights that highlight the walking surface.

Swatt Architects

This last batch of illustrations are technically mezzanines, rather than bridges, but in being open on one side and acting as corridors they are very bridge-like. And elements like the glass floor which is different than the adjacent floor, create this walkway next to a wall of publications particular.

Ziger/Snead Architects

This walkway overlooks not only the large living room but also an outdoor area (at left) in a level above the patio seen through the opposite glass wall.

House + House Architects

This little walkway leads from the top of the stair to a kitchen at the distance. The windows at left, together with the skylight over the stair, give the sense of a bridge traversing open area.

Contemporary house architects

This bridge overlooks a double-height that serves a pool to the left of this photo. Notice the door in the end of the walkway…

Contemporary house architects

It proceeds as a bridge out! What better place to finish this ideabook?

More: Bridges Home — A Sense of Entrance
Floating Stairs: Running on Air
Artful Stairs: Continuity in Steel
Level Changes Define Interior design
More inspiring architectural Information

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The New Year might coincide with reduced temperatures and snow for a lot of the world, but in the Southern Hemisphere it’s summer and warmth. Even though this winter is unseasonably mild for much of the USA, it’s still simple to pine for warmer temps and longer days. So let’s take a look at some homes in Australia, especially ones where connections between inside and outside are flexible and open. The next examples demonstrate that homeowners at Australia — be it Sydney, Melbourne, or even someplace in between — really enjoy their outdoor spaces and the dry climate that makes it possible for them to be an expansion of their inside.

Sam Crawford Architects

Architect Sam Crawford has a number of exceptional projects on , the majority of which display a propensity of opening living spaces to the outdoors. The Caristo House’s living/dining space extends to an outdoor dining pavilion via an operable glass wall. The house’s generous roof overhang, matched by the wall extensions, strengthens the space’s expansion to the yard.

Sam Crawford Architects

The Wake Murphie House from Crawford uses an identical sliding glass wall because the Caristo House, but on a smaller scale. With the slender canopy between the operable wall and clerestory, the dining space feels like outdoors.

Sam Crawford Architects

The Sewell House shows Crawford’s predilection for operable walls in the end of dwelling spaces, as well as his use of sloped roofs. In this house the roof actually continues on one side to eventually become wall, giving the house a unique profile that is expressed from the patio.

Sam Crawford Architects

In Crawford’s layout for the Petersham House, coated at a tour, the architect inserted a little courtyard in an existing house. A few rooms overlook the distance, a number of these opening themselves to it more than others via operable windows. The courtyard effectively creates a fresh core — a void — for the house, with just a little bit of character, skies, light, and atmosphere.

Sam Crawford Architects

Another project by Crawford mixes up things a little bit. The opening occurs in a bedroom and also in the room’s corner; however, the roof still slopes to one side. Notice the louvered band between the sliding glass doors and clerestory, a zone which allows for ventilation.

Ian Moore Architects

Architect Ian Moore’s layouts are a lot more nominal than Sam Crawford’s homes, but we still find a solid link between outside and inside. The Cohen House is notable for the distinctive all-natural circumstances: a large tree is almost dwarfed by a stone wall; the house occupies the zone in between.

Ian Moore Architects

A closer look in the Cohen House shows substantial glass walls which swing open to connect inside and out. Louvered jalousies above are utilized to ventilate the big interior space. When we step inside, next…

Ian Moore Architects

… we see the way the stone wall sits under a few feet from more sliding glass walls running the length of this distance. Taking into consideration the presence of the natural feature from outdoors, it seems sensible that the architect made it the attention of the interior living space.

Ian Moore Architects

The Cost Oreilly House from Moore seems completely closed off by the road, a geometric exercise in squares and rectangles left in gray and white.

Ian Moore Architects

Yet, at the back of the Cost Oreilly House, inside and out are linked when double-height glass walls slip to one side. The ease of this white interior is offset by this enormous operable wall which attracts the exterior, and all its messy vitality, in contact with the residents.

Rudolfsson Alliker Associates Architects

The Maroubra House from Rudolfsson Alliker Associates Architects blurs distinctions between inside and out through the use of a steel framework on two sides of the pool.

Rudolfsson Alliker Associates Architects

Looking back towards the preceding view, we can see the way the living space opens to the patio and pool via a sliding glass wall. The overall effect is one where the outdoor space is characterized by the steel framework, even as sunlight and the components input it.

Secret Gardens

This house in Sydney situates a lap pool next to the house. Overlooking the water within an outdoor patio and second-floor balcony, each linked to the interior through sliding glass doors. The opinion to the living space from the pool, and vice versa, is especially wonderful.

Jaime Kleinert Architects

The Baker House from Jaime Kleinert Architects looks just like a conventional bungalow in the front, with its hip roof, shattered windows, and symmetrical elevation.

Jaime Kleinert Architects

At the back of the Baker House this belief falls away. The roof slopes to one side, expansive glass walls open to the patio, and a flat roof caps the living space on the floor.

Jaime Kleinert Architects

A closer look reveals the big operable opening which connects inside and out. Notice the ever-present jalousies to the side which naturally ventilate the interior.

More: Sliding Walls Bring the Outside In
See More Photos of Australian Home and Garden Design

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