Table of contents for April - May 2019 in Urbis

FOCALS BY NORTH Google Glass might have been among the first high-tech eyewear – but it’s a product that’s never really taken off outside of a dedicated set of ‘glassholes’ – largely because of its deeply uncool design. Enter Canadian company North, which has just released smart glasses with fashion styling. Billed as ‘the world’s first non-dorky smart glasses’, Focals are custombuilt and German-engineered, and feature an in-built digital display only the wearer can see. Granted, North’s Focals don’t have cameras built into them – but, for many wearers, that’s welcome from a design perspective. It also reduces the creepiness factor. Focals’ heads-up display allows you to read text messages, receive GPS navigation instructions, read your diary commitments and interact with Amazon’s Alexa. These glasses were the talk of CES…

THE HOUSE SPEAKS OF EXPRESSED MOVEMENT WITH CURVED AND ANGLED GEOMETRIES SHAPED BY NATURAL FORCES AND INVITING FORWARD MOTION. GREAT GRANNY HOUSE IS THE HOME of a retired couple that moved from Melbourne to the hinterland behind Lennox Head on the northern New South Wales coast to enjoy a more tranquil life. The clients engaged Peter Carmichael of Cocks Carmichael Architects to design their house. It was Peter’s ninth project for them over 30 years, and his final project as Cocks Carmichael closed its doors after nearly 50 years in practice. Local Byron Bay studio Harley Graham Architects collaborated with Peter to deliver the two-bedroomed house. The site was flattened and a separate pool, guest house and garage were built around the property. “The structures locate and define a residential…

THERE ARE MANY WAYS TO DESCRIBE this home that turns its back to the hum of traffic and its face to the sparkle of the Waitematā: a pavilion in the trees; an ornamented container for living; a generational jewel for the future. But the best way to understand it is to make the journey down the stairs from the curve of the driveway to the discreet front door, to rest your hand on the cool slab of bronze that is its handle, to pivot it open, and to stay silent but attentive as you wander through each room and take in the many hand-hewn elements that make this place as much art as architecture. Owners Donald and Penny (they requested their first names be used) have a long history on…

AS ARCHITECT BETSY WILLIAMSON describes, for a home that needed to manage intergenerational living, the client brief was refreshingly succinct. “The client is a couple and the parents of one of the members of the couple are elderly and needed an accessible apartment effectively within the home so that they could all live together. It was also important that all the major rooms of the house had views of the creek.” Located alongside Ancaster Creek in Ontario, this L-shaped building, designed by Toronto’s Williamson Williamson Inc., combines two homes for two couples. The components of each are relatively ordinary, yet extraordinary when combined. The house was first conceptualised as two long rectangular blocks or bars: one for the client couple and one for the parents. Williamson explains: “The house is…

A rare opportunity to see an extensive archive of the virtuoso director behind such films as The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey (pictured above) and A Clockwork Orange, will soon be on offer at London’s Design Museum. With previously unseen material, themed rooms and original props and costumes, the exhibition, which marks the 20th anniversary of Kubrick’s passing, will have, at its core, the director’s unwavering passion for design and architecture, which permeated his work like an ambrosial scent. Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition, 26 April–15 September, London. designmuseum.org…

AUDI Q8 Audi’s flagship Q-car is a fully loaded sophisticate with real poise and serious road presence. The luxurious Q8 is initially badged 50 TDI and introduces a new 210kW V6 diesel. The five-seater is a bit shorter and lower than is a Q7 but has wider tracks and standard sports-tuned air suspension in support of a more sporting brief. First acquaintance highlighted both engine strength and a smoothness of acceleration that make the Q8 a refined, big-hearted performer. Mild hybridisation (48v subsystem and strong engine starter/generator) helps create the seamless pace. Start hammering the Q8 along rural roads and you begin to appreciate torque vectoring from the clever centre differential and optional four-wheel steering. As you’d expect in a 5m-long SUV, cabin space for five is deeply impressive, and…

THE ACQUISITION OF THIS TRIPLEX at the heart of Paris required something of a leap of faith. Its owners, Guy and Emmanuelle, admit to having experienced “a certain apprehension”. Fortunately, they entrusted its renovation and transformation to very safe hands – the husband and wife duo, Olivier and Hélène Lempereur, who originally met in the offices of one of the grandes dames of French interior design, Andrée Putman, before setting up their own Brussels-based practice in 1998. That experience stood them in good stead. For, this was a project that was anything but obvious. Olivier still clearly recalls his first visit. “The former layout defied all logic,” he states. “It was impossible, complicated and unliveable.” “It had been done in a slapdash fashion,” adds Hélène. “There were parts that were…

WHEN JAKOB BILL TOOK EARLY RETIREMENT from his job as an archaeologist at the age of 59, his main objective was “to have more time for painting”. It was then that he and his wife Chantal found the ideal spot for this activity: a farmstead with 15,000m2 of land, right above the village of Pianezzo in Switzerland. The property consisted of a main house plus a group of dilapidated outbuildings that looked as though five small buildings had been pushed together in a random manner. “I did some archaeological excavations here and discovered buried cellars and sections of walls,” grins Jakob. However, the Bills wanted clear structures in their home. With this in mind, they commissioned Ticino architect Michele Arnaboldi to take care of the planning. They had the old…

EVENTS SEMICONDUCTOR: THE TECHNOLOGICAL SUBLIME Until 14 July / Wellington See the effervescent work of Semiconductor, a UK artistic duo that regularly collaborates with NASA, CERN, the Smithsonian, the Charles Darwin Research Station and other similar institutions. This exhibition marries science and art to beautiful effect. citygallery.org.nz AUCKLAND WRITERS FESTIVAL 13–19 May / Auckland If you love wordsmithery, this year’s Auckland Writers Festival at the Aotea Centre won’t disappoint. Notable participants include BAFTA-winning rapper and writer Akala, designer and writer Zachary Thomas Dodson, Pulitzer Prize-winner Andrew Sean Greer, A Ladder to the Sky and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas author John Boyne, 2018 Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Kamila Shamsie and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki curator Mary Kisler. Enjoy readings, script-free storytellings and off-site writing classes. writersfestival.co.nz…

TIMBER AND CONCRETE POSSESS a certain architectural magic. As natural materials, their textures provide expression and variety in architecture, giving life to form and space and creating a sensorial environment. Timber has a sense of warmth and comfort; concrete imparts solidity and strength. At Cove House, Justin Humphrey Architect (JHA) uses timber and concrete to differentiate forms, generate pattern and rhythm, and influence the ambience of spaces, taking advantage of their tactile qualities to create a house that feels as good as it looks. Cove House in Sanctuary Cove – a residential development on the waterways north of the Gold Coast – is home to a couple that enjoys travel, art and design. The pair developed an interest in subtropical architecture from regular trips to Southeast Asia and engaged JHA…

SECOND CHANCES. Danica Paki and Samuel McConnell believe in them. One year after they missed out on the house they’d scaled mountains for, it came on the market again. This time, they were ready. They did not hesitate. Most people run for fitness but Paki and McConnell would regularly tackle the 135-metre climb of Ōwairaka, after the long haul from their first renovated home (an ex-Statie in Waterview), as an exercise in discovering the area. “We became obsessed with this part of Mount Albert: the lovely views, the personalities, the mix of cultures,” says Paki. The house they secured second time around is elevated well away from the street, with its back to the maunga and its face to the north. Built in 1948, it has a red-brick base, stucco…