Featuring a home in Hiroshima, Japan by Hiroshi Nakamura & NAP. The Optical Glass house offers a welcoming, tranquil atmosphere rarely seen in such perfect combination with contemporary and minimal interior architecture. I love the simplicity in the execution of materiality, layout, solidity of forms and large scale geometric elements such as the wood storage wall in the main living zone. Color is expressed through the used materials such as warm brown from wood, soft gray from concrete, invigorating green from the central courtyard and beautiful blue from a small pool outside. Soft light penetrates through a reflecting tiled glass, highlighting the carefully curated interior space.

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.

Sunlight has an important role in sustaining life on earth and has shown a positive affect on the mood. Born in Oslo – Norway and currently based Gothenburg – Sweden designer Daniel Rybakken made an installation – Daylight entrance – to “replicate the positive sensation of sunlight” in both the entrance and staircase of an office building in central Stockholm. Using the technical princples of one of his previous projects Rybakken used over 6000 LED lights over 3 stories to give the visitor or employee the suggestion of multiple windows somewhere in the staircase. Photography by Kalle Sanner.

Here at Minimalissimo, we are fascinated with Japanese designer Tokuyin Yoshioka’s simplicity and poetry. He lets white or transparent materials appear as airy forms closely resembling coincidences. “In my opinion art is more about grabbing someone’s heart than design,” he claims. As if emotions could be designed, the rainbow church installation encourages transparent thinking. An 80 foot wall of crystal prisms that captures a moment of sunlight and sparkles. Tokuyin Yoshioka’s experimentation with transparency, using crystal prisms reminds me of an imaginary world – almost invisible. Growing up, I always thought that invisible = way cool. I mean appreciation for nearly unnoticeable spaces. We are obsessed observers. Maximalists or minimalists? But it’s ultimately not about the label, is it?

If you’re dreaming of ever designing and building your own minimalist home (like I do), then chances are that you would want those sweet large window panes with almost no visible frame. In that case you might want to consider contacting the guys at Vitrocsa. Vitrocsa have developed a window especially with minimalist architecture in mind. In their quest for simplicity, every component, every detail and every junction of the window has been reduced to its bare essentials. This makes them our friends ;-)