Fobe House

The Fobe House by Guilhem Eustache graces the otherwise empty two-hectare plot of land, located near Marrakech. This featureless landscape is a perfect backdrop for the pristine white architectural ensemble, which is comprised of four parts – main home, pool house, caretaker’s residence and garage. The facade features two overlapping walls that conceal the staircase to the roof between them. The opposite side of the main building is overlooking the swimming pool and the rest of the premises. Here is how the architects describe the concept of the house:

In this 2.5 hectares area the buildings occupy only 240 sqm. The volumes and their arrangements permit to avoid a floating effect in this empty space. Before discovering the layout we first need to go along the clay walls, which remote the neighbours away while allowing the sight of whites geometries.

I like how the unobstructed sunlight brightens the white cubic structures and creates sharp shadows through the patterned openings. All these elements play off of each other, accentuate the emptiness of the land and focus the eye towards the house.

Photography by Jean-Marie Monthiers.

→ More images

Yuna Kim

The purpose of minimalism is to expose the essence of a design by eliminating all non-essential forms, features and concepts. In web design, minimalism erases potential distractions and strips away elements into their most basic forms.

Yuna Kim‘s use of elementary shapes helps to organize her portfolio and goes perfectly with her personal logo. This minimal web site design experiments the use of geometric shapes that makes design so effective. The simplicity is also carried through the navigation making it enjoyable to explore.

→ More images

Vincent Van Duysen

Vincent Van Duysen is a Belgium architect whose work I’ve been drawn to for quite a while. It was almost too difficult to select only one of his projects to be featured here today and therefore here is a selection of my favorite spaces he designed.

The use of singular element, frequently in a large scale, typically either defines the interiors or directs viewers’ attention to that particular element. I’m a big fan of the beautiful white space, panelled walls and strong geometrical shapes re-appearing in his designs. Hope you enjoy.

→ More images

My Book

Milan based Italian designer and architect Denis Guidone, a Minimalissimo favourite for his minimalist watches, has recently created My Book for Nava Design.

Guidone has taken a minimal, yet unusual approach to the concept of this book. He explains:

It is a blank book with a pretext to imagine a story, a book that you could write yourself, day after day; It is a white space to imagine, you can also leave the pages blank and  fill them in with simply your thoughts.

I like the idea it is not a notepad or a sketchbook per se (although it could perhaps be used as such), but instead it is a book to encourage storytelling. My Book is available in brightly bound red, white and black.

→ More images

KINK

Osko+Deichmann, the product design studio founded by Blasius Osko and Oliver Deichmann, created a minimalist family of tubular steel furniture named “KINK”. While normally tubing used in furniture is bent the Berlin design duo rather functionally folded, dented and kinked the tubes in their furniture pieces. The traces that come with the steel process are now integral to the furniture’s design.

The family consists of a table, chair, writing table, cantilever chair, sideboard, shelf, coffee table and floor lamp made exclusively of tubular steel, pine wood and clamps.

→ More images

Hila Gaon bridal store

This concept store and atelier for fashion designer Hila Gaon was designed by Karina Tollman and Philipp Thomanek of Israeli studio k1p3 in Tel Aviv.

The gallery-like space features 9 dresses from the current collection, hung in prominent display upon store mannequins (which were custom-made by the architects, based on traditional seamstress dolls). The complete collection, for its part, is stored in a translucent and lit closet along the length of one wall, and the main space is completed by a large dressing room and fitting area that are provided for the bride and her entourage.

I appreciate this design for its lack of fuss concerning the dresses. Dress-shopping can often become a stressful activity and it’s a good thing to have a clear and minimalist space to cancel out distractions and to aid in this choice!

Photography by Ardon Barhama.

→ More images

Rest Stop and Viewpoint by LJB architects

Two different projects, by one architecture firm, located in the same area, make a clear statement about creative and sustainable interaction of nature and architecture. LJB, a Norwegian based architecture team, were assigned to design two rest stops, the Flotane rest stop and the Vedahaugane lookout, at the Norwegian national tourist Route Aurlandsfjellet.

The first one consists of 1200sqm parking area and a tilted, concrete, cube structure that serves as toilet. A simple yet so thoughtful design creates a well protected entrance to the toilet service while at the same time the south façade is covered by solar panels; a solution that allows daylight to enter the interior while protecting it from indiscreet eyes.

The second one, the Vedahaugane lookout, could be described as a pathway to nowhere. It is a 90m long curve shaped construction – a concrete line that seems to float above the terrain. A minimal approach with the minimum environmental footprint and a place I would definitely love to visit.

Photographs: Statens Vegvesen, E. Marchesi

→ More images

White Dormitory

White Dormitory is a renovation project recently completed by Japanese designer Koichi Futatsumata of Case-Real. Located on Teshima Island, Japan, this beautiful dwelling provides accommodation for three employees of nearby restaurant Il Vento. The bones of the initial house were carefully preserved, allowing to insert new elements without disturbing the surrounding landscape of the village which remains unchanged from the old days. Futatsumata elaborates:

Though deteriorated traditional Japanese style roof was replaced, the basic form and color of the original was adopted to the new one only using different materials, you hardly notice the change from the outside. On the other hand, all the furnishings and functional features of dormitory as well as a courtyard are reconstructed using various white materials such as woods, stones, and plasters with different expressions and tones. In Japan, white is not only a symbol of new beginning, but the sacred color representing purity, innocence, and peace.

The interior is comprised of three bedrooms, arranged on one side of the building. The common area is characterized by the beautiful contrast between the monochromatic colour palette and rustic wooden beams. The line of skylights brings constant flow of natural light into the room. The small courtyard with the long white terrace connects the inside and outside of the building and creates the illusion of a much bigger space.

→ More images

(un)defined spaces

Matthias Schade was born in 1984 in Berlin, Germany. His latest work is a series of photographs named (un)defined spaces – an investigation of urban space. An investigation of our living environment.

Schade explains the concept behind the series:

Contrary to the daily natural perception of urban space, my artworks of the (un)defined space series offer a directed and focused view on our surroundings. They invite the beholder to critically and consciously face its environment. It is not about a mere documentation of our environment but rather the chance to question things and to create new experiences.

The young artist has been shortlisted for the Celeste Prize 2011 within the photo, digital graphics category back in November 2011.

I love these very minimal and undefined photographs.

→ More images

Liana

I really think this bookshelf is a fine example of minimalist design. It has been designed by the Belgian Pieter Desmijter and produced by the manufacturer and editor of design furniture, Feld.

The bookshelf is called Liana because its design has been inspired by this plant: arising from the wall, curling the books and finally disappearing back  in the wall. It is made from oak with a varnished or stained finish, and you can install it using just two screws.

I’m particularly interested in Liana because the design reduces a bookshelf to a basic form to achieve its function, whilst using minimum material.

→ More images

12345