Video
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IKEA Inspires a Tiny House
IKEA has built a tiny home that’s living large. Refreshingly the house doesn’t skimp on style or amenities, and it has been designed with sustainability at its core. The tiny house movement — typically dwellings smaller than 500 square-feet — has been surging in popularity for more than a decade, and increasingly so in the past year as travelers seek safe, remote and compact havens during the pandemic. Now IKEA is getting on board by designing and decorating a tiny house through the IKEA Tiny Home Project. IKEA is no stranger to clever design for small spaces—but the furniture giant recently took on a tiny living challenge unlike any other it’s…
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The Wabi House: Behind the Scenes
Enjoy this insider’s tour of the perfect Japanese-inspired wabi-sabi fortress in Carlsbad, CA. Thanks to Sebastian Mariscal Studio and homeowners Shino and Ken Mori for creating a relaxing zen retreat that we can all enjoy for a few minutes.
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The Birth Of A Wooden House
For anyone interested in exquisite woodcraft, this documentary movie from Northmen: The Northern Guild of Master Craftsmen uncovers the process of building a wooden house with hand tools and local materials – starting with finding timber in the local forest till finishing the living space. “To preserve the wood from the spoiling, fame posts, sills, top beams and final cladding boards are treated with fire and pine tar mixed with Tung oil. This wood preservation technique was adapted from the Japanese traditional wood preservation technique Shou Sugi Ban (焼杉板).” Master Craftsman “I built my house from trees that I felled with an axe and two man crosscut saw in my…
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Biophilic Design: The Architecture of Life
Fascinating documentary from 2011 on the convergence of nature, conservation and architecture. Watch the Trailer. What is Biophilic Design? Ultimately, biophilic design is more about restoring our connection to nature than it is about adopting a new methodology for designing the built environment. Its accomplishment will therefore, require a fundamental shift in human consciousness that leads to a new ethic of responsibility for caring for the earth and our relationship to it. The heart of this challenge is a modern world that has forgotten in so many ways how much our physical, mental and even spiritual health and well-being continue to rely on the quality of our relationship to nature. The promise of…
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Craftsman Creates Stylish Exteriors with Shou Sugi Ban
An increasing number of Western architects and designers these days create arresting exteriors using a process known as shou sugi ban, a centuries-old Japanese technique for preserving and finishing wood by charring it with fire. The treatment — which leaves behind a dense, carbonized layer of blackness — has been around since at least the 18th century, though earlier examples exist. It began as a practical process used mostly for fencing and the facades of rural homes and storehouses, which held valuables, like rice, that families hoped to protect from blazes. Interestingly, while it is no longer as popular as it once was in Japan, it’s found new life in the…
