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Slow Home It’s been said that the magpie is one of the most accomplished nest builders in the bird kingdom. She works painstakingly slow, roving to collect material and build her rather large—by avian standards—home. Once the walls are constructed to the magpie’s liking, the creature shores the foundation with bits of mud and at last fashions a tidy dome on top as protection from neighborhood marauders. This can only be described as a very successful architectural program: a well-insulated and sensitively rendered structure, constructed of locally sourced materials, and aptly suited to the needs of the resident. This idea of the gradual assemblage of home has reverberated in my mind throughout the process of building this issue, which is devoted to doing more with less (or, in other words,…

Moons Over Miami Sited just across from a massive convention center holding miles of contemporary works, Design Miami is the reserved little brother to the bombastic art-world juggernaut that is Art Basel Miami Beach. The entrance was marked by a gazebo by the show’s Designer of the Year, David Adjaye. Inside, wide gaps between the floor slats made navigation in precipitous high heels—a common sartorial choice among patrons—a spectator sport unto itself. Within Design Miami, booths offered vintage furniture, bespoke jewelry, artisans sewing scraps of Fendi leather, and more. Though it only took a short while to traverse, the space was still chockablock with design-world cameos, like Bjarke Ingels, who offered an LED installation, and the white-jumpsuited Karim Rashid. A. Established & Sons The London studio released a familiar-looking limited-edition…

A. Kurilpa Bridge Brisbane, Australia Arup 1,541 feet The slew of cables and tubes isn’t just a seemingly random array of mastlike visuals, but instead it functions as the tension-supported cable-stay system hoisting the steel bridge over the Brisbane River. The bridge features viewing platforms, all-weather canopies, and ever-changing LED mood lighting. A purple bridge, anyone? B. Te Rewa Rewa Bridge New Plymouth, New Zealand Novare Design 285 feet The graceful Te Rewa Rewa span over the Waiwhakaiho River presents visitors with a sense of transformation as they cross through the gateway to the sacred land of the local Maori tribe. The white steel ribs form an arch, artistically symbolizing the path of the wind while also framing Mount Taranaki. C. Linked Hybrid Beijing, China Steven Holl Architects Eight bridges…

Project: Blair BarnHouse Location: Blair, Wisconsin Architect: Alchemy Architects alchemyarch.com Cabinetmaker Donna Brogan and her country-doctor husband Bert Hodous had an abundance of time (it took years), space (their farm and orchard), and inspiration (a barn and granary on the property already) when it came to realizing their new home, the Blair Barn-House. What they didn’t have, however, was a massive budget. So they turned to St. Paul, Minnesota–based Alchemy Architects, who managed to design and build the new 2,150-square-foot home for $360,000—a feat that included a geothermal heating system, a slatted sunlit porch, and a rustic modernism that’s entirely homegrown.…

Davor Popadich, a director at Pattersons Architects in Auckland, New Zealand, never dreamed that he and his wife, Abbe, who runs a small home-furnishings importing company, could gather enough funds to design a home of their own. They figured their chances of finding a vacant site within reasonable distance of their workplaces downtown and having enough money left over to build a house on it were almost zero. “There’s no way we ever thought we would be building,” says Abbe. “It was just too expensive.” In 2008, the couple decided to move out of their central-city studio apartment and look for an existing home they could purchase and renovate. After two unsuccessful bids on small properties on Auckland’s North Shore, about five miles from downtown, they made an impulsive offer…

Project: Ghost Houses Architect: Curb Location: Knoxville, Tennessee They never actually wanted a house. But after a chance sighting and an architectural reincarnation, Tricia Stuth and Ted Shelton, founders of Curb, ended up with three. The couple, both architects and professors at the University of Tennessee, originally planned to buy a commercial building near Knoxville’s newly energized downtown and turn it into loft apartments. They knew they needed rental income from tenants to finance the type of project that would challenge their architectural skills and provide a home at the same time. But by the time they started shopping for downtown real estate in 2004, they were too late to do anything on a modest budget. So they started pushing their boundaries outward and reconsidered more traditional residential options. One…

Project: Parisien/Raymond Residence Architect: Naturehumaine Location: Montreal, Quebec After spending a year in their “new” house—a century-old, 800-square-foot two-bedroom in Montreal’s small but bustling Rosemont neighborhood—Francis Parisien, a marketing director, and Yannick Raymond, an early childhood educator, scraped together enough cash to hire an architect to add a second story and remedy some of the home’s ill-advised 1980s additions. They found Marc-André Plasse, a partner at the firm Naturehumaine, after reading about his work in the local paper, and brought him a tight budget of $175,000. When the initial site analysis determined that the tired foundation simply could not support the extra weight above, Plasse, fueled by the couple’s enthusiasm and determination, conceptualized a way of going out, rather than up. Meanwhile, Parisien and Raymond’s need for a remodel was…

When Mark Robbins came to Syracuse, New York, in 2004 to become dean of the Syracuse University School of Architecture, arguably no neighborhood was more emblematic of the city’s struggles—and its potential—than the Near Westside, a once-vibrant collection of bungalows and shotgun cottages west of downtown. Many of these structures had been demolished or fallen into disrepair as manufacturing jobs disappeared and residents fled for the suburbs, eroding the area’s urban fabric. Robbins devised the From the Ground Up competition in 2008, inviting each team to submit plans for a well-designed, efficient single-family home to be built on one of three Near Westside vacant lots for $150,000. The overarching goal was to forge new models for residential infill development that could breathe new life into urban communities across the United…

After passing the “love at first sight” test, take a closer look. When prospecting for furniture, you’re bound to encounter objects in less-than-stellar condition, and a $200 repair job on a $20 end table might not be worth the expense. Make sure you know where to direct your eyes. * On newer furniture, drawer pulls, screws, and glides will be shiny, but on older pieces those items lack sheen. * Dovetailed joints area a sign of quality craftsmanship. Stapled or glued joints are less resilient. * Veneered pieces (like most Danish modern furniture) are tougher and more expensive to repair since you have to match woods and can’t sand down the surface. Solid wood furniture is easier and less expensive to fix. * Furniture that’s cheap to begin with (i.e.,…

The products, furniture, architects, designers, and builders featured in this issue. 46 My House Davor Popadich, Pattersons pattersons.com Peter Davidson davidsonconstruction.co.nz Vistalite vistalite.co.nz Aluminum door and window profiles by Pacific Suite pacificsuite.co.nz Wood-burning fireplace by Warmington Studio warmington.co.nz Chair One by Magis magisdesign.com Cable cords by Frinab frinab.se Switchplates by Forbes & Lomax distributed by Piper Traders forbesandlomax.com pipertraders.co.nz Flooring by Quality Wood Floors qualitywoodfloors.co.nz 56 Dwell Reports Maruashi Koeda Shears by Kozo paxtongate.com Greens Mister, Aguo watering can by Blomus lumens.com Thigmotrope Satellite by Seth Boor, Square White Planters, Cube Aerium from Flora Grubb shop.floragrubb.com Spanish flowerpots by Bauer Pottery bauerpottery.com Garden tools by Nyby from Shop at Cooper-Hewitt cooperhewittshop.org Modern Cylinder Series by Gainey Ceramics gaineystore.com ColorStorm Hose by Dramm dramm.com Rhombins organizer by Scot Herbst and Eric…

Every issue of Dwell gets the full cover-to-cover treatment at our place. We particularly enjoyed the Smaller & Smarter issue (November 2011). Our unconscious, overconsuming world needs more of Dwell. As practicing advocates of “less is more,” we appreciate your showcasing forward-thinking people happily living in small spaces. Bravo for your consistently brilliant coverage of intelligent design for the conscious consumer. You’ve shown yet again how restraint and good taste go hand in hand. Melissa and Gerry Burlington, Ontario As a former property manager, I read your article on evicting deadbeat tenants (“An Introduction to Renting,” November 2011) with great interest. I occasionally expedited the process of getting a tenant to vacate by negotiating a one-time payment in exchange for surrender of the premises. Offering $1,000–$1,500 (or more, depending) can…

Whether he was designing a collection of table settings or a fleet of airplanes, Alexander Girard, above all, sought to destroy monotony. Playful and exuberant, Girard’s signature treatment of form and color suffused his creations, from restaurant interiors to intricately crafted textiles. In their exhaustively compiled and sensitively rendered book, Alexander Girard, Todd Oldham and Kiera Coffee offer a substantial, satisfying tribute to a designer who invigorated everything he touched. A. The 672-page tome, $200, Ammo Books B. La Fonda del Sol Restaurant in New York C. Dinnerware for Georg Jensen, 1956 D. A small sampling of Girard’s fonts…

Monobloc Blues We canonize designer chairs with books, posters, movies, and collectible miniatures. We purr at them in museums and swoon in showrooms. Yet when the world sits, it sits in a chair that no one notices. Scan a newspaper and you’ll see it at a Nigerian beauty pageant, on a Spanish beach, stacked high and gleaming in aisle five awaiting patios yet unseen. Technically, this commonplace type of outdoor seating is called a monobloc, but the Flickr group that honors it and its brethren has a different appellation—“those white plastic chairs.” In the 1950s and ’60s, plastic was heavy with promise. The Eameses molded it into a seat and put it on an Eiffel Tower pedestal. Eero Saarinen dreamed of an all-plastic chair but had to settle for plastic-coated…

Project: Crabill Residence Location: Hillsborough, North Carolina Architect: Tonic Design/Tonic Construction tonic-design.com Historic barns dot the countryside around Hillsborough, a region that traces its agricultural roots to the 1750s. So when John and Stacy Crabill contacted Tonic to design their new home, the firm gleaned inspiration from the local typology while taking things in a decidedly modern direction. “They really trusted us to do something different,” says Tonic’s architectural designer, Katherine Hogan. The house’s skewed cubic form is clad in plank-like Cor-Ten steel panels and shielded by a rain screen. Over the years, the Cor-Ten will develop a rich patina that will liken the home to the weathered and rusted farm buildings in the area. “As time goes forward, we’re catching up to the past in a way,” says John…

Warm Front Auckland’s climate is relatively mild, but Davor and Abbe decided not to scrimp on insulation, installing fiberglass batts with R-values above building code requirements in the ceiling and the walls. This, combined with the home’s concrete floor (with standard polystyrene insulation) that retains solar heat, means Davor and Abbe only use their New Zealand–made wood-burning Warmington Studio fireplace in the coldest months. warmington.co.nz Chair Necessities The couple’s four Chair One dining chairs by Konstantin Grcic for Magis are among their most prized possessions. They had been given their dining table as a wedding gift but couldn’t afford enough chairs to surround it, so they opted for a wooden bench on one side and the Grcic chairs on the other. Davor says he’s pleased they purchased the chairs early…

Project: Northeastside Residence Architect: Intrinsik Architecture Location: Bozeman, Montana @ Extended slideshow at dwell.com/magazine Brian Whitlock had been living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for 15 years when he began to experience an acute case of SSTF (Swanky Ski Town Fatigue). This affable, artistically inclined sound mixer for documentary films and TV longed to put down roots in a low-key community populated by fellow creative souls. And he needed to do it on a budget, which aced him out of Jackson Hole. Whitlock ultimately settled one state north, in the laidback college town of Bozeman, Montana, where he lucked upon a lush, near-to-downtown plot of infill land bordered by century-old hedgerows and three graceful ash trees. He dreamed of a Michelle Kaufman–designed prefab home, but the price—$225 per square foot—was too…

Road Tested To keep costs down, Plasse specified Zig-Zag by Prolam Floors for the kitchen countertop. Typically used as the flooring in transport trucks, the pre-laminated, one-and-three-eighths-inch-thick wood can handle much more than the errant paring knife. Plus, “It’s much cheaper than having your cabinetmaker glue the pieces together, and it comes in lengths up to 40 feet,” Plasse says. The result is a bit rougher than that of a craftsman’s hand but adds another interesting texture to the home’s material palette. prolamfloors.com Great Reveal During the interior demolition, the contractors discovered wood beams in the ceiling, which Plasse, Parisien, and Raymond unanimously agreed to leave in place. “We wanted to express something about Quebec and its tradition of wood houses,” Plasse says. “We liked the idea of keeping that…

We’ve all been there, gazing enviously at a friend’s broken-in leather Brazilian chair or peering at the perfect parabolic curve of a 1960s Castiglioni Arco lamp. But instead of spotting that mid-century bargain yourself, you stand dumbfounded at acres-large flea markets and haplessly click on endless eBay listings promising authentic designs. Must you live with the sinking feeling that there aren’t any halfway decent vintage furnishings left at a reasonable price? For as long as people have made things new, they’ve wanted them old. Renaissance architects sought the mathematical purity of, and a tangible link to, the ancients, thus the thriving trade in the relics of Greece and Rome. Designers in the 18th and 19th centuries mined the past for aesthetic cues, and one revival followed the next. In the…

For Amy Wells, a two-decade veteran of the set decorating business, buying vintage is a surefire way to create a unique space. “Having less stuff, but really special stuff, is the goal. Put things in one at a time and make sure you love that thing more than anything else you’ve ever seen,” she says. WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW Unauthorized Replica: Someone has decided to bring a classic design back into production without obtaining the official approval of the original designer’s estate. In some cases, unauthorized replicas are as good as the authentic ones. Limited Edition: This designation usually applies to contemporary pieces. Limiting a product’s production is a technique borrowed from the fine arts, where multiples are sold and numbered. Brick-and-Mortar From mom-and-pop shops lining dusty back roads to…

Budgets beget compromise when it comes to design, and Jon Handley is an architect adept at navigating the balance between splurge and steal. When he was commissioned by a young couple to maximize the space in their minimal 700-square-foot Manhattan apartment, his solution for the main living area was a clever table that easily stows away against the wall when not in use. “Architecture helps influence the mood and set the scene,” Handley says. “The transition becomes a kind of ritual: It goes up for a movie night—the TV is across the room—or down for a dinner party.” The inexpensive, lightweight MDF surface operates on a custom-built fulcrum system that utilizes lead weights like a see-saw. Once in motion, gravity is the only agent needed to engage the leg. A…

Hollis Bennett Hollis Bennett traveled back to his birthplace of Knoxville, Tennessee, to photograph the Ghost Houses project (“Spirit of the South,” p. 62) on the city’s north side. Seeing this part of town renewing itself was quite a treat for Bennett, especially when he discovered that one of the tenants was an old friend. In between shots he was able to catch up with him and reestablish a grasp and pulse on his old town. “All in all, a great fall weekend in East Tennessee,” he says. Winifred Bird Freelance journalist Winifred Bird called Yuko Shibata at her home office in Tokyo to chat about the supercool live/work space Shibata designed for herself (“Simple Division,” p. 74). Bird, who was in her own unexciting home office in Nagano, had…

Timber Table by Gus Design, $235 unicahome.com Ripple Side Table by Blu Dot, $199 bludot.com Owen Steel End Table by Schoolhouse Electric, $199 schoolhouseelectric.com Faceted Mirror Table by West Elm, $199 westelm.com Stump by Kalon Studios, $85 branchhome.com Acrylic Drink Table by CB2, $179 cb2.com Balloona Side Table by Natalie Kruch, $225 thefutureperfect.com DLM Side Table by Hay, $245 shophorne.com Trollsta Tray Table by Ikea, $100 ikea.com…

A. Travira Armchair By Oxford Garden, Two for $580 This one weathers sun and storm with graceful pride. Its teak slats will fade silvery gray to match its powder-coated-aluminum frame. oxfordgarden.com B. Easy Chair By Jerszy Seymour for Magis, $149 Light and comfortable, Easy’s curves look great even when the chairs are stacked in a colorful tower. magisdesign.com C. Perforated A Chair By Chantal Andriot for Tolix, $330 A vintage style gets a modern touch—still hardy, now sheer, thanks to a buckshot blast of perforations. tolix.fr D. Chair X36 By Ignacio Lejarcegui Santos, $59 The fold-up yellow pine slats bring economical log-cabin charm to the deck, mixing an Adirondack’s bulk with monobloc mobility. chairx36.com E. Picnic Deckchair By Jose A. Gandia Blasco for Gandia Blasco, $680 The anodized-aluminum frame locks…

For 56 years, Tom Mulcahy has lived in the same home in Joseph Eichler’s Greenmeadow development. With a G.I. loan, Mulcahy put $300 down on a four-bedroom model, and after a few months of construction he, his wife, and their children moved in during the spring of 1955. “My wife liked the open layout, and I liked the price,” he says. Mulcahy remembers Eichler coming through the neighborhood at one point and putting in lawns where residents had let the weeds grow too long. “He wanted his houses to look nice,” says Mulcahy. Though his children grew up and left home, and his wife died two years ago, Mulcahy, at the age of 90, is content to stay where he is. “A real estate guy came by and said, ‘I…

MANTEL 1 Maruashi Koeda Shears by Kozo $35 Giving delicate plants the Edward Scissorhands treatment with your safety shears simply won’t work. Prune limp leaves, snip wilted blooms, and keep plants prim with this hardy iron ikebana implement. paxtongate.com 2 Greens Mister by Blomus $20 Tropical plants are some of the most popular choices for indoor gardens—what’s not to love about their exotic blooms and far-out foliage? Drier indoor air is tough on these humidity-loving varietals, though, so keep this sleek mister on hand to perk ’em up. lumens.com 3 Thigmotrope Satellite by Seth Boor $40 per set of three A vertical garden is in everyone’s reach with these tillandsia holders. Even the smallest and most unconventional of spaces can host a splash of green with the help of these…

Project: Switch Apartment Architect: Yuko Shibata Location: Tokyo, Japan When Tokyo architect Yuko Shibata and her husband bought an aging 940-square-foot apartment in 2009, she knew she wanted to remodel it to include a home office where she could base her firm. But there was a catch: “My husband wanted to come back to a home, not an office, and I needed a switch of some sort when work was over,” she says. So how to meet the challenge while sticking to a tight budget? For inspiration, she turned to fusuma, the sliding paper screens that effortlessly divide or expand the rooms in traditional Japanese homes. Instead of cloistering her office in a corner, she made use of her entire house. She cut a hole in the wall between her…

Project: P13 Architect: Gut Gut Location: Bratislava, Slovak Republic “It was quite a sad place, with yellow painted walls and a strange atmosphere,” says architect Lukáš Kordík of his home in Bratislava. “But I had a feeling it could be easily turned into a cozy and open space.” And by removing a few walls and emphasizing the 1930s flat’s existing rough-hewn charm—exposed brick walls and a ceiling of undulating concrete vaults—he’s done just that. Now, an architect sprucing up a small, dingy apartment for himself may not be news, but it’s how targeted this modern makeover is that makes Kordík’s reorganization of the space so remarkable. For just a little more than $23,000, he transformed his home from a thicket of small rooms into a continuous, light-filled abode. Busting through…

THOUGH INSTANTLY POPULAR WHEN FIRST RELEASED, IT’S STILL SEEN ITS SHARE OF CHANGES. WORD YOU SHOULD KNOW Authentic Replica: A faithful copy true to an older iteration. Similar to a reissue except it’s often not the original company that produces the piece, because the company no longer exists. 1948: EAMES OFFICE DESIGNED BY EAMES OFFICE AND UCLA FOR MOMA’S INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR LOW-COST FURNITURE DESIGN. 1950: HERMAN MILLER YEAR ONE OF PRODUCTION THREE ZINC-PLATED OR BLACK STEEL BASES OFFERED: THE ROCKER, THE CAT’S CRADLE, AND THE CROSS-ROD X BASE. 1950–1952: EAMES OFFICE THREE-INCH-WIDE RUBBER SHOCK MOUNTS JOINING THE SHELL TO THE BASE REPLACED WITH TWO-INCH-WIDE RUBBER MOUNTS. X-SHAPED BASE REPLACED WITH AN H-SHAPED BASE. FOUR COLORS AVAILABLE. 1952: HERMAN MILLER UPHOLSTERED VERSIONS RELEASED. 1955: HERMAN MILLER ALUMINUM BASES INTRODUCE 1957:…

CERTAIN MID-CENTURY TRENDS—PAGING MISTERS RISOM, SAARINEN, AND PLATNER—ARE SO POPULAR THAT ASPIRING COLLECTORS ARE PRICED OUT OF THE MARKET. WHILE THOSE PIECES AREN’T GOING ANYWHERE EXCEPT UP, THERE ARE ITEMS THAT CAN BE HAD FOR LESS. Ceramics “The applied arts, like ceramics, are beautiful, expressive, and help people get along with their lives. It’s a compelling way to be intimate with design: You handle the objects, eating from them and drinking from them. From studio to production pieces, ceramics are easy for a budding collector to acquire at all price levels and offer plenty of room to grow as you become more serious. Russel Wright, Ben Seibel, Stig Lindberg, Gunnar Nylund, Roger Capron, Carl Henry Stalhane, Tapio Wirkkala, and Ambrogio Pozzi are great designers to keep an eye out for,…