Design Debate

What a spacious and beautiful home. There is something about the simple and far reaching lines of this Suffolk residence that appeals to me. I personally don't see the point of a flat roof unless you can walk on it, sit and take tea or dangle your legs and star-gaze, but that a side, I do love the lines. The photography too just adds to the effect - the stark whiteness of the landscape welcomes the larch clad single storey home.  The huge glazed windows frame the farm land views. In their season the fields sway with meadow flowers and ears of corn blow jostle about. The design was conceived by Danish studio Norm Architects , open plan living that relates perfectly to its surroundings.  Its a peaceful residence where natural materials layer together with copious amounts of white. I like how the building is raised on a slight platform allowing the ground beneath to undulate. The clean lines are a pleasing find on a Tuesday morning, hope you agr...

I live in a really beautiful part of England, Cornwall, where green hills are hugged by hand built stone walls. The landscape boasts a view at every turn and the sea just clearly steels the show whenever it is revealed. Recently though more and more solar panel-filled fields are popping up. Obviously harnessing the power of the sun is a really good idea and I can totally understand why farmers might fill a field with solar panels (as well as sheep at times!) to earn more cash in a tricky business. However they are just not pretty. My objection is probably more the fact that the placement and design doesn't seem considered to the environment. I feel that architecture - and anything built - should consider its environment, to work with it or contrast to it but there must always be relationship, a conversation and at least a consideration. Anyway, so this morning I come across photographer Reuben Wu and his photographs of the solar mirrors in the Nevada SolarReser...

How do artists do it? My personal art taste is normally abstract or nature focussed, an impression rather than an accurate representation. I love mark making and the quality of line. Occasionally though I am drawn to art that looks to so real I am just left staring. I love these pieces from American painter  Ali Cavanaugh , they are actually modern frescos. What Ali does is rather beautoful, she layers watercolour pigment on thin kaolin clay with tiny round synthetic brushes. The result has a luminosity that makes the subject feel like they are an actual person standing in the room. I mean you can see these are painted rather than real, but there is something in the quality of them that has a 'real' presence. Her subject matter varies, she does paint more ethereal watercolours of children, capturing their innocent eyes and playful poses. And of course there are the socks - yes arms in socks in interesting poses! I love the series she also completed where ...

What an interesting brew - a Budapest based illustrator, a classic novel, and the modern medium of the Google map.  Lehel Kovacs has taken inspiration from Jules Verne’s novel ‘Around the World in Eighty Days' by drawing each place Phileas Fogg visited. He used the Street View provided through Google maps to capture what these locations look like today.  I like Kovacs' style of illustration too. It is sketchy and fluid, with minimal line, colour and a little texture. The buildings gaze down in a 3d fashion and people go about their everyday life obliviously caught in a ever evolving story.