The British Editors go French...

Some of our editors this summer took a trip across the English Channel to our neighbouring capital Paris. We looked at some of the most coolest places to be seen in the French capital. With Paris hosting its fashion week in the next month, we looked into the real back streets and unseen worlds that make this city a place to be seen and fashionable.

Also we will have editors at the coolest fashion parties of the season giving you all the backstage gossip plus what a models life is really like at Paris fashion week!

In the coming weeks leading up to fashion week were going to show some of the places you MUST go while in the city and also to see these hidden gems that makes our French neighbours almost as great as us.

Stay Tuned!!!

The Beauty Of The English Countryside

Being in the Yorkshire Dales and the city of York this weekend I began to again realise how beautiful the English countryside is. Living in London you forget that only a few hours away you can really enjoy the splendors of England. Enjoying rural and pub lunch Sunday food I see that I must get away more often to enjoying the English scenery.

Taking in the city of York I came across the splendid 12th and 16th century architecture from the minster, first medieval bridges to the city walls that once defended this ancient northern city. I found it amazing and refreshing. 

Below are a selection of photos that I feel I needed to share, I hope you like them

From our Editor

NYC's Narrowest House Returns to the Market

“For under 6 million you really don’t get anything in the West Village”

It is quite interesting how the housing value changes over time. Manhattan is known for being a very expensive area in terms of land and housing, increasing its value if it comes with a green space as it seems to be pretty rear to find properties with gardens in such a densely constructed area.

Looking back to 1873, the West Village was already crowded, so any space available was precious. This happened with a spare space between the numbers 75 and 77 Bedford Street. A very narrow house was built between those two numbers and took the position 751/2 in that street.

After being home for many famous people such as John Barrymore, Cary Grant or Edna St Vincent Millay, the house has now been refurbished to the highest standards:
Flooring --rift and quarter-sawn antique oak. Kitchen - white oak cabinetry, custom millwork, Crema Ella Italian marble countertops and backsplash.

The windowed master bath, with a balcony overlooking the planted garden - claw foot tub, separate shower, mosaic tiles, Italian marble and English Lefroy Brooks fixtures.

Fireplaces - framed with natural Travertine marble. All of these modern conveniences have been seamlessly integrated, including central air, washer/dryer and new radiators throughout. The 2nd bath features Dolomite and Calacatta marble.

 


How much is it down for? The house features three bedrooms, two baths, four working fireplaces, original beams and a communal garden. A narrow staircase links the seven rooms. And after a $1 million the house is being sold for $4.3 million! Now, who will pay for this dollhouse?

From our Architectural Editor

New London Tube Map

The oldest underground train system in the world is now being represented in a more geographically accurate diagram.

Worth looking at http://www.london-tubemap.com/

Concert Hall Infanta Doña Elena

Designed by Estudio Barozzi Veiga, an Auditorium and Conference centre has now opened its doors to the public on an 8000 metre plot in Aguilas, a fast growing village in southern Spain. Taking a wave as an inspiration, the building is a rational reflection, clean and simple but at the same time strong and aggressive, between the urban artificiality and the organic naturalness of the Mediterranean Sea, with concave white walls that resemble the 'deflated cheeks of someone taking a deep breath'.

On the ground floor there is a multi-uses room with a capacity for 150 people and a restaurant. Going up to the first floor, guests are able to access a multifunctional room designed especially for congresses, events and shows, with a seat capacity of 750 people. What the visitor first experiences as it enters the main hall, is a stunning 10-meter window that overlooks the endless sea and the village's medieval castle, San Juan de las Aguilas, built on the highest point of the village. The spaces have been designed to combine practicality with beauty to create an elegant and functional environment for congresses and events.


From our Architectural Editor

My first thoughts when I got to know about this big structure being built just by the seaside were not entirely positive, as I don't agree with the construction of massive urban developments on the coast (creating awful examples such as Benidorm). But looking at the result, I can say tat they actually did a good job "camouflaging" the building with the landscape and it even gives a touch of unusual elegance to a traditionally fisher's village. I just hope its activity is not affected too much by the economical crisis Spain is going through at this moment.

 

Voyage of Discovery at Selfridges Rooftop

For the past few weeks, the Studio Toogood has been giving life to an ambitious project on top of the mythic building of Selfridges, in London. The project, inspired by the legendary Gondola Banquet of 1905, consisted on flooding Selfriges rooftop with a green fluid imitating a new sweetener, Truvia. Guests are now able to experience the discovery but only untill tomorrow 24th July.

The most attractive part of the project is possibly the pool and boat tripping around the crystal island as uniformed waiters offer you a very interesting alcoholic mix served in a medicine bottle in exchange of a crystal stone given to you at the entrance. But there is actually a while process that takes guests to the final bit of the exploration; from Selfridges ground floor one will be lifted in an elevator carefully decorated with books discovery-related attached to the walls allowing people to take them and read along their journey.

Once upstairs, the first thing guests see as the lift opens its doors are crystallized bricks very carefully placed on top of a triangular shiny-black table lighten up with neon lights. Behind, a massive snake-print fabric covers the whole wall. To get to the exterior space, one will have to go through a corridor with dark fabric prints on the sides and a dramatic looking flooring playing with darks blues and turquoises. This corridor leads to another dark room decorated with surreal stalagmites coloured with the same range of tones as the walls.

Finally, taking a left and going up some stairs, guests get to the exterior space where light hits the eyes after a darker time, time to discover! A bar serving quite strong cocktails exchangeable for crystals, some seating area and the pool where everyone seems to be having an exciting fun time trying no maintain the equilibrium. Again the exterior is decorated with very beautifully designed prints on the walls and a slightly lighter blue coloured flooring.

The views from the top are incredible, Truvia plants, green water and boats that give you the impression that are floating on London's landscape.

Here are some up close photos of the project

From our Architectural Editor

The Bartlett School of Architecture Summer Show 2011

Yet again the Bartlett School of Architecture impresses visitors at its yearly summer show.

The annual celebration was opened to the public yesterday (1st July 2011) so there I was taking a look at this year’s work of over 450 students.

Overall the show was very well prepared, it looked beautiful and tasted great. One by one I observed the different projects and their representation on paper and physical models, which I found particularly curious due to the great amount there were compared to other open day shows such as The University of Westminster or the AA.

Very detailed and clean great variety of drawings, again a pretty dramatic black and white/very low saturation kind of look was the most present on the student's works.  

If there were something I had to criticise, it would be the overwhelming amount of people that wouldn't allow paying as mach attention to the work as one would have liked. But congratulations to UCL and to the architecture students for all that hard work on innovative drawings, models, texts, animations and installations.

Visit if you have the opportunity,

These are the days and hours of opening:

Exhibition open to the public
Saturday 2nd July, 10.00 - 20.30
Sunday 3rd July, 10.00 - 17.30
Monday 4th July, 10.00 - 17.30
Tuesday 5th July, 10.00 - 17:30
Wednesday 6th July, 10.00 - 17.30
Thursday 7th July, 10.00 - 20.30
Friday 8th July, 10.00 - 20.30
Saturday 9th July, 10.00 - 17.00 (show closes)

From our Architectural Editor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit, Experience, Stay

W Hotel London

Architect: Jestico + Whiles
Interior architect: concrete architectural associates

Last year a new four-star Hotel emerged in central London just next to Leicester
square (opening to the public in January '11) but, was there still any space
available to construct over there? Apparently an area of 18600 sq meters was
free to build up this ten-storey building housing retail, leisure and
residential accommodation, including a spa, 11 penthouse apartments and a new
3200 sq meters retail-leisure experience provided by some leading global brand.

The first time I saw the building I got intrigued by its mysterious look (very
Apple-Mac kind of style) not being able to see through those ghosted windows.
This translucent visual effect was created by a wrapped second skin of frameless
glazing, which is suspended from the face of the building imitating a floating
sheer veil and giving the impression of an undulating and abstract pattern,
making the viewer perceive it as the folds in a theatre curtain.

The London based electronic artist Jason Bruges was in charged of designing the
façade, which, during the hours of darkness, lightens up, and functions like a
huge pixelated screen. This visual effect is achieved by a complex ceramic frit
applied to the optically corrected glass of the building's outer skin, allowing
it to hold and project the light, without obstructing views outwards from the
guestroom windows.

In a mix of traditional and contemporary materials, comfortable and cutting-edge design. The interiors represent the ever-evolving face of London glamour. Visitors make their entrance underneath a disco ball cloud sculpture made of 280 disco balls and surrounded by black glass walls. Once inside, guests are led through the first floor reception atrium into a stylish bar overlooking Leicester Square, providing an ideal location or backdrop for maybe
film-premiere interviews?

From our Architectural Editor 

Lunuganga, “A place of continued varied sensations“

The Lunuganga gardens Bentota, Sri Lanka: a tropical Eden created by Geoffrey
Bawa, the 'father of Modern Asian Architecture'.

" This is a work of art, not of nature: it is the contrivance of a single mind
and a hundred pairs of hands working together with nature to produce something that is ‘supernatural’."

For decades, Bawa lovingly created this enchanting house and gardens Italian
inspired with spectacular views over lakes and tropical jungle, and made them
his spiritual home, his muse, known today as his most personal life’s work.

What was an abandoned rubber plantation, has now been named by magazines such as GQ and Conde Nast Travel one of the best boutique hotels in the country, not for its extreme luxury, but for its historical significance, relaxing vibe and its high artistic value, both refined and wild.


From our Architectural Editor