part two

here's hoping...part one

Amazing house in seattle (stalker-drive-by-cell-phone-pictures):

hemp house.

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Grassroots Modern posted about a super cool house today. I would be totally happy with an exact replica. Well, almost exact. I would like big windows in the front. But I like how it fits into the surrounding wooded area, and it is on a big hill, much like our future house will be. Read more about the super green building materials here. They say it cost $133 per square foot, but I have no perception of house costs, is that good or bad?

dwell

I spent some time looking on the website of a magazine called "Dwell" today. It is all about modern living, from architecture to decorating and design. Here are some things that stood out to me.

I've included two views of this home. In all my dreaming (and bored sketching during class) I've imagined a pergola attached to our house. This one is particularly cool. However, they have floor to ceiling windows in the bedroom, with no visible curtains or blinds. I don't think I could do that.

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Here's the other view. I like how the garage is so subtle. I'm the first to admit a dislike of snout-houses (those with the garage as the main facial feature) but I actually like this design! And again, what a neat pergola.

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This is an interior of another home, in Sweden, I think. Almost all surfaces are knotty pine. I don't know that I could stand that much natural wood, but I do want to include some in my future home. It is so funny to see all this wood, even on walls, when on most cutesy interior decorating sites, they have so many examples of people who paint over wood paneling. I also really love the big windows and natural lighting in this space.

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What do you think of all that wood?

nordic embassies, berlin.

Here are some more images of the Nordic Embassies in Berlin. They really are so inspiring. I think (if I remember correctly) the designs were selected by competition.

The picture below is looking up inside one of the embassies.

The interior spaces are stunning. I was most impressed with the muted color scheme (mostly the copper-blue and the color of natural wood) and use of materials. Notice the seating below, it is all a sort of nubuk leather.

See the detail of the copper on the curved stairway?

Each embassy building is built with materials you would find in that country. The one for either Iceland or Greenland (can't remember now which) has concrete molded into the wavy shape of corrugated metal, perhaps I should post a picture of that one!

The copper curtain around the entire compound was designed by some students. You can see it through the window in many of the pictures.

Below is inside another building. It used more white less wood, and didn't feel quite as warm, but I loved the openness of the main space, and again, the use of natural materials.

I'm still trying to convince Mr. Nielsen into having natural wood on the outside. Doesn't it look great?

pretty on the outside.

Mr. Nielsen and I are so lucky. The land we hope to build on (currently his parents' backyard) is right next to a city park, and is wildly beautiful. These beauties, my most favorite, are in my future front yard:

Here's why else we're lucky. Mr. Nielsen's brother is a talented architect, and can design us an amazing house. Not one of those beige mcmansions found in all new suburban developments (not that there's anything wrong with those, well actually, there is, but if you like it, more power to ya) but an energy efficient, unique, modern house that fits the topography and blends well with the landscape. We don't plan on having much say in the outward design of the house, because we trust our architect brother, but we do like looking at houses. Here are pictures of some that Mr. Nielsen (who has refused to contribute to this blog, so I'll just have to do it for him) emailed to me:

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Here's what we like. Windows. Here's what I like. Natural wood. Here's what Mr. Nielsen likes. The green siding house. Here's what else I like. Copper, like at the Nordic Embassies in Berlin. Let me show you:

I love how the copper turns that turquoise-blue. There are panels of copper surrounding all of the Nordic Embassies. They also use it in some of the interiors. I may have to do a whole post around these buildings and others in Germany, they truly inspired me. (I visited Germany with a school group in October of 2009, it was wonderful!)