design whim

Hyde Park's Serpentine Pavilion designed by Jean Nouvel: We love when things run amuck.

 
"I want more disorder in this place," French Architect Jean Nouvel said of his design for the latest gallery Pavilion in Hyde Park, London.  We think we love him.

Set against the zen lawns of the park, Nouvel's screaming red, asymmetrical design makes for the perfect setting to host art this summer and more importantly, a slumber party complete with movies, a midnight banquet and science experiments exploring "alternative sleep states" until breakfast in the morning. Holla!

Sleepover at the Serpentine Pavilion: will be taking place July 30th -31st, 2010 from 10pm – 8am.

(via SPREAD ArtCulture; photo Philippe Ruault)

Love for an outdoor kitchen

It may be true that we can be a bit of a hazard when we get our hands on the stove.  Luckily, the last time we accidentally set our shirt on fire, the expensive threads were courtesy of our unknowing roommate.  Despite our lack of cooking prowess, we do love kitchens to be aethestically arranged to reflect our undoubtable charm.  Even better, to be positioned outside as a prized addition to a glorious summer house. 

This summer house (or "sommerhus" in Danish) via the Danish blog BOLIG comes equipped with just the right size outdoor kitchen to complement the deck for summertime lounging, gathering friends and serving catered snacks that you can pretend you made on the outdoor amenities. Oh come on. It's better than putting our roommate's charred shirt by his dog's bed and saying "Fido! What did you do?!"  We're better than that these days.

Summer loungin' under terrace umbrellas

 
Sometimes it's worth it to remind ourselves to take a look at things from another perspective. We can get so wrapped up in our immediate radius that we're not really seeing all that's going on above, below and around us.  Being the snarky observer that we are, we do enjoy the beauty of the bird's eye view.  There's so much to see from way up high that we typically miss out on when we're shuffling back and forth carrying out everyday activities.

This black and white nostalgic arrangement of terrace umbrellas via Decoesfera takes us to where we want to be. Sun shiny moments of summer lounging and laziness.  Ah, it looks so good from up here.

Solar energy slick architecture in Cape Cod

When we came across this Cape Cod beach house wonder designed by energy saving specialists Zero Energy Design via Ocean Home Magazine (the latest and greatest on our list of coastal publication love), we thought "How DARE any home not live up to such solar powered standards as this one." Or at the very least, make for as wonderful topographical eye candy.

"The house produces more electricity than it needs and sells the surplus back to the grid.” says Stephanie Horowitz, AIA, of the Boston design firm.

Umm, yea...why don't you stick that in your pipe and smoke it?  Or don't!  That would smoke up our precious air.  We heart natural energy.

 

Brooklyn Graffiti artist Dain on display in Paris

We're talking so much about Brooklyn these days, we seem to have Brooklyn ca-ca mouth. However we have to admit, we wouldn't be jabbering about it so much if there wasn't some cool stuff happening.  We discovered via an interview with Elle that the man behind the graffitied "circled, dripping eye, like a graffitied monocle", stated to be a "poke at classical chic" opened his first exhibition in Paris in the past couple of weeks.

Dain's the name and he's made his mark around Brookyn by collaging iconic Hollywood actresses of the 50s in mixed media on the street.  He's all about nostalgia, femininity and glorifying the women of "yesteryear". 

"My mother always said that 'todays women leave nothing to the imagination' … I think often that is so true.." he says.  Well, we'll be damned!

Dain's work is currently on display at Lebenson Gallery in Paris http://www.lebensongallery.com/.

(photos via Elle blogs)

 

Seaside sauna

 
We do love a good sweat sometimes.  A steaming hot sauna after a workout or post-swim, ahh. On the list for our dream house? Um, duh. After seeing this boathouse sauna, we want our very own little hotbox with amazing views of the sea. Sweat..sweat...sweat. (via Sköna hem)

DoTank enhances our urban environment (well just Brooklyn's for the moment anyway...).

We've spent so much time cracking jokes about hipsters and it has finally come time for us to eat our words.  Apparently, they don't just piddle around the coffee shop on their laptops looking cool all day and fussing with their messy "bed heads".  DoTank, a conglomeration of Williamsburg hipsters (and perhaps those from other hipster-y parts of the boroughs) have come together to "make Brooklyn even better" by "seeking to make rapid change in the urban environment".  Having successfully pushed through their idea of growing grass on Bedford Ave., we dig it/them/their cause.  How are they spreading the word? "We started with building chairs out of old shipping pallets and placing them anonymously around Williamsburg, Brooklyn."

Ah, so Brooklyn but it's so good.

(via landscapearchitecture via MOOKS)

Graffiti girl.

 
We want to meet her….whatever street she may be on.  (via maduke)

Italian greens.

Some NYC apartment buildings have courtyards.  Ours happens to be one of them.  However it is downtrodden and sad with weeds and gigantic mutant flies (nothing like a little NYC garbage to keep insect life healthy).  This shot of a charming Italian exterior garden inspires us to dream...oh what could be of our used and abused space for greens. (photo via maduke)

Crowning moments.

 Yup. Even the afterlife lets us know who's who. This is how we intend to go down.  Just sayin'. (photo via gangstaluv)