Lladro Atelier's Newest Decorative Porcelain Collection by Jaime Hayon: Metropolis.

Lladro Atelier unveiled their latest collection of decorative porcelain at the 2011 maison et objet show. The architecturally inspired pieces, created under the guidance of designer Jaime Hayon, include vases, lamps, planters, mirrors and boxes that together form a city.




The modern and futuristic pieces are rendered in matte porcelain and modern colors (light and dark yellow, light and dark green, light and dark grey, anthracite and white) whose detailed textures are reminiscent of embroidery. Although the exteriors are bisque, the interiors are glazed so that they are watertight.






images courtesy of Lladro Atelier
The individual pieces range from $215 to $600 and can be purchased here

The following images from Maison et Objet are courtesy of Designboom:




Lladro Atelier

The Dune House. A New Stunning Modern Beach Home in the Village of Thorpeness.

Mole Architects has collaborated with the Norwegian firm Jarmund Visgnaes Architects on this beautiful modern beach house which is located just south of the picturesque village of Thorpeness in Suffolk. The Dune House can accommodate up to nine people with its five bedrooms.

You can book The Dune House for a weekend (3-nights, Friday to Monday), a mid-week break (4-nights, Monday to Friday) or a week (7-nights, Friday to Friday. Prices start from just £760 for a 4-night break (the equivalent of £22 per person per night).




“For us the most interesting tension was to create something that would not only fit in with the local landscape and ‘society’, but would also be refreshingly new”, says director Hakon Vigsnaes. “The gabled roof is particularly ‘English’ – not something you would find in Norway – so we wanted to make a feature of that.”





The roof, clad in a lightly tinted orange steel alloy, reflects the changing colours of the sea and sky and the panoramic windows on the ground floor offer views of the sea, whilst giving the sense of the house being nestled in the dunes. JVA wanted to create more than just a space for sleeping upstairs, so each of the four double bedrooms has a bathtub in it, with windows carefully positioned so that one can lie in warm water and take in views of the North Sea and surrounding meadows. Separate shower and toilet facilities are attached to each room and there is a small library and roof terrace on this floor.






The home has four double bedrooms on the first floor (bedrooms 1 + 2 can be made up as twins), all with a bath in the room, and ensuite shower and WC. On the ground floor, there is one bedroom(with a single bed) and an ensuite shower and WC.








The ground floor, which comprises a living area, kitchen, terrace and further en-suite bedroom, is slightly sunken into the dunes to provide a sense of privacy and a measure of protection from the wind coming off the North Sea. Sliding doors at each corner further help to visually dematerialise the ground floor.



Polished concrete, glass and aluminium predominate on the ground floor, while the upper story is constructed from solid timber planks which are left exposed internally.

Enquire about booking the Dune House here.

Dune House - Project Team:
- Architect: Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects
- Executive Architect: Mole Architects
- Contractor: Willow Builders
- Structural Engineer: Jane Wernick Associates
- Engineer (Timber superstructure) Eurban
- Quantity Surveyors: Boyden Group LLP
- Clerk of Works: Steve Foot, Techs Project Management

Living Architecture partners at The Dune House:
- Kitchen appliances provided by Miele UK
- Kitchen equipment provided by David Mellor Design
- Bed linen by Peter Reed luxury linen

images courtesy of Mole Architects, Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects and Living Architecture

The New LEGO Farnsworth House & A Look At The Original by Mies van der Rohe.

The latest addition to LEGO® Architecture series is the stunning Farnsworth House built in 1951 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Dr. Edith Farnsworth. The house, which has endured floods and other ravages of time, is now a historically protected landmark by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. (Images and info about the original Farnsworth house are later in this post).



LEGO Architecture is a collaboration between the LEGO Group and Chicago architect Adam Reed Tucker.

LEGO Architecture products come in two types: Landmark and Architect. The Landmark series features well-known buildings, while the Architect series focuses on the work of important architects. Mies van der Rohe is the second architect to be featured after Frank Lloyd Wright.



“We are proud to introduce Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House, a new chapter in architectural history for LEGO Architecture. Our main job has been to capture the essence of this iconic design with our own celebrated icon, the LEGO Brick. We hope the model and the story behind the building will be an inspiration to kids and adults around the world” said Paal Smith-Meyer, Head of New Business at the LEGO Group.

A Word from the Artist, Adam Reed Tucker:

Farnsworth HouseTM celebrates our 10th model in the LEGO Architecture series. As a minimalist “Steel & Glass” modernist symbol of the 1950s, it delicately balances clean lines, volume of space, minimal structure, and expansive glazing, creating an inviting relationship between the natural and built environments.

In order to effectively replicate the balance between the refined white structural elements and expansive clear glazing, I started with the smallest cross section I could make for the vertical exterior columns. After several attempts, the most promising turned out to be using basic 1x1 bricks. Everything else essentially fell into place: the inviting steps, the floating floor and roof decks, the understated furnishings and cleverly designed built-ins. It’s fitting that recreating a minimalist symbol of modern architecture was done so with the simplest of LEGO bricks, the humble 1x1.

The assembled Farnsworth House model is over 10” (25cm) wide on a base with printed name label and includes a booklet with facts about the building, its construction and history.


above: assembled LEGO Farnsworth house courtesy of nightfury 21

* Architectural replica of the real-world Farnsworth House™
* Booklet included with details on design and history. (English language only)
* Measures over 10” (25cm) wide and 3” (7cm) tall
Buy It Here

About Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House:


Meis van der Rohe's Farnsworth House was designed and constructed between 1945 and 1951 as a one-room weekend retreat, located in a once-rural setting, 55 miles (89 km) southwest of Chicago on a 60-acre (240,000 m²) estate adjoining the Fox River, in the city of Plano, Illinois.




The steel and glass house was commissioned by a prominent Chicago medical specialist, Dr. Edith Farnsworth. She was highly intelligent, articulate, and intent on building a very special work of modern architecture. Her instructions to the architect, Mies van der Rohe, were to design the house as if it were for himself.




Mies created a 1,585-square-foot (140 m²) house that is now widely recognized as an architectural masterpiece. The home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006 after being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. It is currently owned and run as a house museum by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.




The essential characteristics of the house are immediately apparent. The extensive use of clear floor-to-ceiling glass opens the interior to its natural surroundings to an extreme degree. Two distinctly expressed horizontal slabs, which form the roof and the floor, sandwich an open space for living. The slab edges are defined by exposed steel structural members painted pure white. The house is elevated five feet three inches (1.60 m) above the flood plain by eight steel columns, which are attached to the sides of the floor and ceiling slabs. The end of the slabs extend beyond the column supports, creating cantilevers. The house seems to float weightlessly above the ground it occupies.




The interior appears to be one large room filled with freestanding elements. The space is sub-divided but not partitioned, and flows around two wood blocks that Mies called “cores,” one a wardrobe cabinet and the other a kitchen, toilet, and fireplace block. The larger fireplace-kitchen core appears almost as a separate house nestling within the larger glass house. The materials used are quietly luxurious – travertine floors, primavera paneling and silk curtains – and the detailing minimal and meticulous.







On its completion, Farnsworth House™ received accolades in the architectural press. The timeless quality of this house is still regarded with reverent fascination by new generations of architects and designers around the world.



Facts about Farnsworth House
Location: Plano, Kendall County, Illinois, USA
Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Building type: House. One-room weekend retreat
Materials: Steel and glass
Style: Modern
Date: From 1945 to 1951
Floor area: 1,585-square feet (140 m²)

Donate to help preserve the original Farnsworth House here

Luxury Villas in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia By Orange Architects

Orange Architects is a joint collaboration between three architecture firms; JSA, Cimka and Hofman Dujardin. They were established with the design have of three modern luxury villas for a luxurious housing development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Villa Ajmakan, 800m²:









Located on the northwest side of the city of Riyadh, the villa is organized in three living floors. On the majestic ground floor with a ceiling height of almost 4m the formal living, formal dining and the Majilis are located. All of these precious formal rooms have views to the green and the fountains in the garden. Perforated concrete give a sublime light effect to the Majilis. The large formal entrance with la central staircase is lighted through the direct sunlight which enters the core of the house through the water fountain with a glass floor located on the top floor. All of the formal rooms are accessed from the formal entrance. With the use of warm textures, fabrics, tiles and lightning each formal room has a beautiful and warm atmosphere. The formal entrance with white walls and a travertine floor is modern and elegant.












Villa Ajmakan II, 460m²:

The magic and spatial beauty of a natural cavern, a Cenote, with its carved out spaces and halls, was the inspiration of the Orange design team for this assignment. The Cenote appears as an indoor oasis, naturally lit by stripes of daylight that reflect in its enclosed pond. A perfect example of sublime architectural quality, defined by space, material and light. For the Ajmakan prototype villa the concept of the Cenote was translated in a compact spatial stacking of the different rooms, with an exiting internal space in between for disconnecting the different functions. By doing so we are able to position the different parts of the program exactly the way the client wants, and at the same time create architectural excitement. Thereby the concept is flexible and comfortable. Room positions can be altered to individual wishes, but the spatial concept stays the same. Central theme in this concept is the quality of the in-between space. This in- between space, the void, offers strategic views in different directions, both vertical and horizontal, while preventing the villa for an over exposure to the sun. Daylight is directed carefully and deep in to the house and at the same time the void functions as an effective tool for natural ventilation.






Orange Architects, established in 2008, is an intense collaboration with the architectural offices HofmanDujardin from Amsterdam and Cimka from Rotterdam.

Since mid 2010 the cooperation intensified. The three agencies complement each other very well, both in substance and in terms of the additional expertise that the different agencies offer.

Orange has been working since successfully on projects in the Netherlands, Belgium, Ukraine, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.

An Orange website is in the process of being developed.