Actor Hilary Swank’s Former Greenwich Village Townhouse Hits the Market at $11M

Traditional Japanese design is all about harmony and being one with nature at all times. Balance is a key part of it all and with it you also have a relaxing environment where you can rest and rejuvenate with ease. The Beniya Mukayu Byakuroku designed by Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama + AMORPHE is an escape where […]

You’re reading This Serene Traditional Japanese Home is Built for Rest and Rejuvenation, originally posted on Decoist. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to follow Decoist on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Architecture and interior design studio idea:list designed a classy, sophisticated and feminine apartment in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. Delicate design together with feminine lines of selected functional pieces, contrasts with pragmatically designed furniture suggests an aesthetic choice that clearly defines the identity of its user – a timeless Lady. The client wanted to keep her 62 sqm apartment bright, seemingly warm and simply shaped, with some addition of blue which she adores so much. That is why the architects sought conceptual inspiration from the period of Bauhaus and many times overlooked Elieen Gray’s interiors. With its clean lines and functionality her pieces were nevertheless designed with comfort in mind in addition to a great deal of feminine elegance and glamour. The interior was designed by carefully playing with volumes and voids according to their function while dematerializing them and maximizing their use. As such the design is consistent through the whole apartment – each full element is useful and intended for a specific purpose and each void is formed with the knowledge that it can soon be filled. The latter basically functions on its own, but if the owner fills it with objects such as paintings, statues or some useful pieces such as fashion accessories and dresses, the objects are placed in a functional frame or compositional context and do not act foreign. At the beginning the architects from idea:list studio rearranged the kitchen in the living space from an L shape design into two parallel lines that gave them additional storage space. The kitchen island formed as a volume that rests on a long storage bench that connects the kitchen part and the dining space and with its reduced lateness opens up the room and lets light seep through. This new orientation of the kitchen and consequently also the dining part enables circular visual communication between the latter two and the living room, perfectly fitting into its user’s living habits. Perfect counterbalance to an elegant kitchen in two shades of blue lies in furniture covered with oak veneer. Consequently this volumes combined with different colours and materials form a starting point upon which other spaces are designed. The latter is manifested in different functions of assembled volumes and colours. The work area and guestbed are represented in the cabinet as voids and are highlighted by wooden lines that visually continue in theform of a bench throughthe hallway and into the living space where they manifest as a cabinet under the television. The empty frame in the bedroom lets light pass through to the wardrobe while still dividing the sleeping part from the dressing room and in addition serving as a hanger and a place for a rotating mirror. Clean minimalistic lines are complimented by rounded shapes as details that make the space more elegant and sophisticated. This shows best with the shapes of mirrors in this apartment which have a dual function – for examplethe mirror in the bedroomthat simultaneously serves as storage space for jewellery likewise the mirror in the hallway (together with the blue lining) also serves as a cover for the installation cabinets, as a shelf for hanging keys and finally it acts as an introduction to the aesthetics of the apartment (and its owner) to every visitor. The luxurious deep blue velvet on the rounded upholstered backs of benches and beds adds a desired elegance to the space, while carefully selected fabrics in curtains and cushions further enrich it with different textures and delicate contrasts. PROJECT INFO
Interior Design: idea:list studio
Design Team: Urša Kres, Tina Begović, Urban Pahor
Location: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Photography: Blaž Gutman

These homes show that being your own client comes with its own challenges and rewards.

This project was a full renovation of a 1970’s ranch house. The original house was chopped into multiple small, disconnected spaces. In the nineties a large and awkwardly placed addition was built to capitalize on the lake view. FORWARD was tasked with trying to navigate the constraints of the existing condition along with negotiating the desires of the artist clients, one of whom wanted a contemporary minimal interior while the other, a collector, was more interested in the distinct rooms of the turn-of-the-century houses. The finished house is a series of discreet rooms that are continuously linked. The entry space acts as a gallery and has been widened to create a clear relationship to the addition. What had been the original house has now been divided into kitchen, a combined living/dining room, and an office/guest bedroom. In the bedroom wing, a new master was created out of two smaller existing bedrooms. The house acts as a container for the owner’s collections. It is contemporary, minimal and spatially open, but at the same time affords the distinction of traditional rooms.

Space in the Wall The thought process regarding the challenging tall and narrow structure centers around a space that flows through the building and functions as a light cone that allows daylight to pierce through all the way to the basement and a joint wall, made of exposed concrete in “board” configuration, divided into squares, separated from the exterior wall of the house, which is made of glass, and acts as an artistic, somewhat “Brutalistic” element the house, one half of a two-family dwelling on a 220 square meters lot, and 360 square meters built, is designed for 2 young families with 2 children each, each family has 2 floors, the first family has the ground floor (living room, kitchen, dining room and garden) and basement (bedrooms and pool). The second family has the first floor (bedrooms) and the top floor (living room, dining room and a garden balcony)
The front of the building that faces the street is made with a combination of concrete, steel and wood. We’ve used these natural materials throughout the building. Stairs and banister from steel plates on the ground floor and a banister and counter-top with a sink out of steel grid on the first floor.
the flooring is out of concrete, with the concrete wall “accompanying” the entire house. Wood beams in the kitchen, the ceiling, a vertical shading and the floor.
The challenge to create a living space while using every available inch and maintaining privacy, while communicating with the residents who are design enthusiasts was completed with 2 modern villas, each with its own connection to the outside and with a unique and fashionable living space in the dense urban surrounding. Architect: Yulie Wollman
Photography: Shai Gil