This is last year's news and some of you may have already seen it, but here is a video of
This is last year's news and some of you may have already seen it, but here is a video of
This is last year's news and some of you may have already seen it, but here is a video of
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkEPkKF0XGA
It was built in the Barvikha Forest near Moscow. The client, Vladislav Doronin, is a real estate developer. He owns/runs Capital Group, OKO Group, and Aman. Zaha used to call him the Russian James Bond.
The central idea behind the house is the raised master bedroom suite. Vladislav wanted to wake up and only see trees and sky. And so Zaha raised the bedroom 22m above grade.
Look at it in section (those stairs!):
It wouldn't be my first choice, but I can appreciate its boldness. What are your thoughts on this house?
Image: Dezeen
In 2017, the New York Times Style Magazine ran a piece on Harry Nuriev – and his design firm Crosby Studios – titled: The man designing spaces for the Instagram age.
Since then, Harry and his firm have been in Time Magazine, have had a solo show at Design Miami, and have been named to the Architectural Digest 100, among many other things.
There has obviously been a lot of talk over the last few years about the impact that Instagram is having on physical spaces and design #IRL (in real life).
Some, or perhaps many, worry that it is having a “homogenizing effect on design.” Everyone is following a kind of global minimalism that looks good on social, but is maybe getting a bit monotonous.
There’s no question that online is having an impact on how we design offline. But I am far less fussed about it than most.
Architecture, design, and art have always reflected the cultural milieu at the time, and it just so happens that we are living through a period where the internet is transforming so much of what we know.
It is always important to question what is going on. But I think Crosby Studios is doing some really great work.
I was listening to The Urbanist (Monocle Radio) last night while I was making dinner and there was a segment on Moscow’s “illegal retail kiosks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkEPkKF0XGA
It was built in the Barvikha Forest near Moscow. The client, Vladislav Doronin, is a real estate developer. He owns/runs Capital Group, OKO Group, and Aman. Zaha used to call him the Russian James Bond.
The central idea behind the house is the raised master bedroom suite. Vladislav wanted to wake up and only see trees and sky. And so Zaha raised the bedroom 22m above grade.
Look at it in section (those stairs!):
It wouldn't be my first choice, but I can appreciate its boldness. What are your thoughts on this house?
Image: Dezeen
In 2017, the New York Times Style Magazine ran a piece on Harry Nuriev – and his design firm Crosby Studios – titled: The man designing spaces for the Instagram age.
Since then, Harry and his firm have been in Time Magazine, have had a solo show at Design Miami, and have been named to the Architectural Digest 100, among many other things.
There has obviously been a lot of talk over the last few years about the impact that Instagram is having on physical spaces and design #IRL (in real life).
Some, or perhaps many, worry that it is having a “homogenizing effect on design.” Everyone is following a kind of global minimalism that looks good on social, but is maybe getting a bit monotonous.
There’s no question that online is having an impact on how we design offline. But I am far less fussed about it than most.
Architecture, design, and art have always reflected the cultural milieu at the time, and it just so happens that we are living through a period where the internet is transforming so much of what we know.
It is always important to question what is going on. But I think Crosby Studios is doing some really great work.
I was listening to The Urbanist (Monocle Radio) last night while I was making dinner and there was a segment on Moscow’s “illegal retail kiosks
There was lots of backlash. Photos here.
Now, I’ve never been to Moscow. So I can’t really comment on the attractiveness and usefulness of these kiosks. But I suspect that these illegal retail kiosks, many of which seem to have been located around metro stations, contributed quite a bit to the city’s urban vibrancy. Retail is hard to get right. It doesn’t work everywhere.
All of this got me thinking about our tendency to sterilize and overplan cities. I’m not saying that planning is bad. It’s not. But I do think we should acknowledge that we don’t know everything about the future and that human ingenuity will undoubtedly unlock new things we never thought would be beneficial.
So how do we plan for the unplanned? Perhaps it starts with accepting the off-center. Here’s a quote from Anthony Bourdain (it’s all over the internet, but I can’t seem to find the original blog source):
I think that troubled cities often tragically misinterpret what’s coolest about themselves. They scramble for cure-alls, something that will ‘attract business,’ always one convention center, one pedestrian mall or restaurant district away from revival. They miss their biggest, best, and probably most marketable asset: their unique and slightly off-center character. Few people go to New Orleans because it’s a ‘normal’ city — or a ‘perfect’ or ‘safe’ one. They go because it’s crazy, borderline dysfunctional, permissive, shabby, alcoholic, and bat shit crazy — and because it looks like nowhere else. Cleveland is one of my favorite cities. I don’t arrive there with a smile on my face every time because of the Cleveland Philharmonic.
There’s value at the margins.
There was lots of backlash. Photos here.
Now, I’ve never been to Moscow. So I can’t really comment on the attractiveness and usefulness of these kiosks. But I suspect that these illegal retail kiosks, many of which seem to have been located around metro stations, contributed quite a bit to the city’s urban vibrancy. Retail is hard to get right. It doesn’t work everywhere.
All of this got me thinking about our tendency to sterilize and overplan cities. I’m not saying that planning is bad. It’s not. But I do think we should acknowledge that we don’t know everything about the future and that human ingenuity will undoubtedly unlock new things we never thought would be beneficial.
So how do we plan for the unplanned? Perhaps it starts with accepting the off-center. Here’s a quote from Anthony Bourdain (it’s all over the internet, but I can’t seem to find the original blog source):
I think that troubled cities often tragically misinterpret what’s coolest about themselves. They scramble for cure-alls, something that will ‘attract business,’ always one convention center, one pedestrian mall or restaurant district away from revival. They miss their biggest, best, and probably most marketable asset: their unique and slightly off-center character. Few people go to New Orleans because it’s a ‘normal’ city — or a ‘perfect’ or ‘safe’ one. They go because it’s crazy, borderline dysfunctional, permissive, shabby, alcoholic, and bat shit crazy — and because it looks like nowhere else. Cleveland is one of my favorite cities. I don’t arrive there with a smile on my face every time because of the Cleveland Philharmonic.
There’s value at the margins.
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