To celebrate the launch of their Guide to Cosy Homes (2015), Monocle Films produced a number of home tours. 

Die Es, pictured above, is the home of South African architects Gawie and Gwen Fagan. They started building their home in 1964, just as they were starting their practice. 

Because of this, they had little money and had to do a lot of the work themselves. They sold their car to buy a concrete mixer.

Although they didn’t set out to explicitly design a “Cape” house, it ended up that way, with heavy thermal masses, white walls, and so on. 

The architecture also relates very closely to the surrounding landscape – as it should – in the way in which it frames views of the water and mountains. 

The mediterranean climate also really comes through in the materiality of the home and the connections to outside.

If you’d like to watch the 5 minute tour of Die Es, click here.

The latest Monocle Travel Guide is out (#17) and it is none other than Toronto. I haven’t picked up a copy yet, but I will. I’m always intrigued by how other people perceive this city because I obviously can’t be objective. Toronto is home.

Here is the video that accompanied the launch of the guide. If you can’t see it below, click here.

[vimeo 191633284 w=640 h=360]

Thrilled to see husband-and-wife team John and Juli of Mjölk featured in the video. They have a wonderful shop (and home) in the Junction focused on high-end Scandinavian and Japanese design. They also have their own collections which are produced locally in the city.

If you haven’t seen their home – Mjölk House by Studio Junction – you need to.

On Friday, November 25th, NXT City will be hosting a one-day symposium here in Toronto (re:Public) that brings together some of the top people, projects, and ideas in the world of public spaces. Following that will be an after party (called NXT City Night) that runs from 8pm to very late. :)

Here are some of the organizations that will be represented at the symposium: City of Toronto, Uber, CivicAction, Monocle, Arup, STEPS Initiative, Breather, The Laneway Project, Oxford Properties, as well as many others. It will be a great event.

For the full speaker list, the agenda, and to buy tickets, click here. There’s an under 35 / student offering for both the symposium during the day and the after party at night. If you attend during the day though, you automatically get a pass to the after-party. I hope to see you there.

Here’s a time lapse video from NXT City Night (edition 2015). If you can’t see it below, click here.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i6R687sdk0?rel=0&w=560&h=315]

To celebrate the launch of their Guide to Cosy Homes (2015), Monocle Films produced a number of home tours. 

Die Es, pictured above, is the home of South African architects Gawie and Gwen Fagan. They started building their home in 1964, just as they were starting their practice. 

Because of this, they had little money and had to do a lot of the work themselves. They sold their car to buy a concrete mixer.

Although they didn’t set out to explicitly design a “Cape” house, it ended up that way, with heavy thermal masses, white walls, and so on. 

The architecture also relates very closely to the surrounding landscape – as it should – in the way in which it frames views of the water and mountains. 

The mediterranean climate also really comes through in the materiality of the home and the connections to outside.

If you’d like to watch the 5 minute tour of Die Es, click here.

The latest Monocle Travel Guide is out (#17) and it is none other than Toronto. I haven’t picked up a copy yet, but I will. I’m always intrigued by how other people perceive this city because I obviously can’t be objective. Toronto is home.

Here is the video that accompanied the launch of the guide. If you can’t see it below, click here.

[vimeo 191633284 w=640 h=360]

Thrilled to see husband-and-wife team John and Juli of Mjölk featured in the video. They have a wonderful shop (and home) in the Junction focused on high-end Scandinavian and Japanese design. They also have their own collections which are produced locally in the city.

If you haven’t seen their home – Mjölk House by Studio Junction – you need to.

On Friday, November 25th, NXT City will be hosting a one-day symposium here in Toronto (re:Public) that brings together some of the top people, projects, and ideas in the world of public spaces. Following that will be an after party (called NXT City Night) that runs from 8pm to very late. :)

Here are some of the organizations that will be represented at the symposium: City of Toronto, Uber, CivicAction, Monocle, Arup, STEPS Initiative, Breather, The Laneway Project, Oxford Properties, as well as many others. It will be a great event.

For the full speaker list, the agenda, and to buy tickets, click here. There’s an under 35 / student offering for both the symposium during the day and the after party at night. If you attend during the day though, you automatically get a pass to the after-party. I hope to see you there.

Here’s a time lapse video from NXT City Night (edition 2015). If you can’t see it below, click here.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i6R687sdk0?rel=0&w=560&h=315]