A walk-in camera obscura by Cermak Rhoades Architects

Via Shedworking

eBackroad.com is a new search service that presents Internet websites that have been individually reviewed by our editors or by independent contributors. Websites are listed because they offer innovative products, attractive designs, extensive product lines, exceptional customer service or valuable information. eBackroad.com was created by architect Don Berg (abetterplan.com) as a way of organizing the building resources listed on his website. It has grown to include many of the best home, garden and family interest Internet sites. eBackroad is where you’ll discover valuable websites that are hard to find anywhere else.

House K, Sausal-Pistorf, Austria. Inspired by the region’s winepresses and corn-drying barns.

YES Architecture

Via Dwell Daily (more photos, etc.)

I just had to share a few images from this photoset I ran across via NOTCOT…

Vita by Flickr user zeissizm

KleinBottle.com - for those of you who want a more detailed explanation of the ’science’ behind the Klein Bottle House posted recently…. and then there’s Wikipedia.

<<Chatou>>: Réaménagement d?un pavillon de jardin (redevelopment of a garden pavilion), Chatou, Paris, France. Project realized: June 2007

The parents of some lucky kid in the suburbs of Paris hired H²O architectes to create a private space for him in a disused garden shed in the backyard. The results are fantastic. The entire interior is built using birch plywood, on three four levels, with dedicated areas for sleeping, living/study, and a bathroom. Resembles a boat interior, don’t you think? The architects call it ‘inhabitable furniture’. Links are at the end of the post.

H²O architectes

All photographs © Stéphane Chalmeau - be sure to have a look at his site - there are more shots of this project including interiors with furnishings and some exterior views.

Klein Bottle House, Rye, Mornington Peninsula (outside Melbourne), Australia.

More photos, text and link, below.

TEXT:

The Klein bottle is a descriptive model of a surface developed by topological mathematicians. Klein bottle, mobius strips, boy surfaces, unique surfaces that while they may be distorted remain topologically the same. I.e. a donut will remain topologically a donut if you twist and distort it, it will only change topologically if it is cut.
The surfaces that mathematicians have developed hold intrigue for architects as they hold a promise of new spatial relationships and configurations. Technology (CAD) has played an important part in all this, it is now more possible to efficiently describe more complex shapes and spaces and communicate these to the build. Previously the more orthogonal means of communication ? plans, sections and elevations naturally encourage buildings which are more easily described in these terms, i.e. boxes.
This holiday house is situated on the Mornington Peninsula 1.5 hrs drive from Melbourne. It is located within the tee?tree on the sand dunes, a short distance from the wild 16th beach. From the outset MCR wanted a building that nestled within the tree line. That talked about journey and the playfulness of holiday time. What began as a spiral or shell like building developed into a more complex spiral, the Klein bottle. MCR were keen to be topologically true to the Klein bottle but it had to function as a home. We thought an origami version of the bottle would be achievable and hold some ironic fascination. (The resulting FC version also has a comforting relationship to the tradition of the Aussie cement sheet beach house).
The building (we think) is also within that tradition of the use of an experimental geometry that could be adapted to more suitably meet contemporary needs, and desires. In that sense it is within the heroic tradition of invigorating the very nature of the home, most notable of this tradition would be the great experimental heroic houses by Melbourne architects in the 50?s (McIntyre and Boyd in particular).
The house revolves around a central courtyard, a grand regal stair connecting all the levels. There is a sense of both being near and far to all occupants.
Its endless, curling shell-like quality particularly in the tee tree brings about a comforting togetherness.

Materials
Exterior: Metal sheet, Lysaght ?Cladding Profile? Night Sky / Fibre Cement Sheet/ ?Pomegranate?
Tretford Carpet / Bamboo Veneer (BT Bamboo, Eco Flooring Systems P/L)/ White Signorino Tiles/
Glass Mosaic Tile/ Paint colours: Elephant, Antique White 50%, Pearl Ash, Red Clown, Spanish
Olive, and Black

Klein Bottle House
Floor Area: 258m2 approx
Principal Architects: Rob McBride, Debbie-Lyn Ryan
Project team: Drew Williamson, Fang Cheah
Clients/Builders: Donna & Mark

McBride Charles Ryan, Architecture and Interiors

Urban Farming: Jules Dervaes and three of his adult children live on one-fifth of an acre in Pasadena, Calif., a block away from a multilane highway. On this tiny sliver of land, they manage to be mostly self-sufficient. ?This is our form of protest,? says Dervaes, who is 60, ?and this is our form of survival.? From the article in the New York Times, by Charles Wilson (which failed to include their web site!). Also, see a terrific 5 minute video: LIFE (MOSTLY OFF THE GRID) by David Clair NY TIMES

Path to Freedom Awesome. I’ve followed the Dervaes’ blog for quite a while now…

True Green: Lessons from 1960s?-70s? Counterculture Architecture by Alasdair Gordon at Architectural Record takes a look back at the roots of green architecture (and lifestyle) by revisiting Drop City, Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti, Bucky Fuller’s geodesic domes and more. A good read.

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