Can design have “integrity”?

We think so. It might not be easily defined, but it’s clear to us that the work of Texas-based firm Lake | Flato has something that many firms lack. A genuine sense of responsibility towards the environment perhaps. Or a refreshing respect for the traditions of art and craft akin to those embodied in the celebrated work of Frank Lloyd Wright. Maybe it’s their transparent use of materials in their designs that allow us to observe and understand the system and the spaces as a whole, that makes us believe that they are creating something more meaningful than architecture alone. Whatever it is, Lake | Flato has it.

Evidence that we are not their only admirers, the firm has a long list of major awards under their belt, including three national awards received in 2011 alone. “Their work is a transparent and powerful affirmation of the proposition that architecture is more than a gravity-defying plan,” comments former AIA President Eugene Hopkins, “more even than the genius of inspiration.” Still, genius seems like an appropriate way to describe the firm’s approach to green design. Founded in 1984 by David Lake and Ted Flato, the company was built upon core principles of craft, connection to site, and environmental consciousness that have clearly remained a part of the firm’s vision over the years. We love the stunning simplicity of this pergola constructed from overhang, pipe and wire that takes advantage of the empty space between two buildings.

It’s hard to say what first caught our eye– HighStreet has been a long-time fan of Lake | Flato’s work. We were recently intrigued by El Cosmico, a collaborative project between Lake | Flato and Liz Lambert, along with Jack Sanders of Design Build Adventure and a creative team of artists, builders and students. Lambert, the creative force behind this one-of-a-kind communal project, describes it as ” part vintage trailer, yurt and teepee hotel and campground, part creative lab, greenhouse and amphitheater.” Renovated trailers, eco shacks, and traditional teepees offer a variety of lodging options that collectively foster a sense of community and encourage a unique opportunity for creative exchange.

Similar to Pacific Northwest firms like Miller Hull and Olson Kundig Architects, Lake | Flato’s enlightened sense of design translates into an equally enlightened work environment. “People are down-to-earth and enjoy what they do because they are designing buildings that give back to society, in a respectful and encouraging environment,” offers Kendall Claus, one of the firm’s newest interns. “Their intentions are genuine– they make living green a priority, in the office and out.” Cool people, great design, and good practice — what’s not to love?

Sarah Pytlik.HighStreet.Cincinnati

It’s summertime and all we wanna do is spend lazy days outside, enjoying the warmth of the sun, amongst the beautiful seasonal flowers and fresh greenery. And once we’ve reached our limit of UV rays, we can’t think of anything better (within the tri-state area) than finding refuge under a big, shady tree… and if we’re lucky enough, catching a cool breeze through the leafy branches.

There are some people on this planet that are a step ahead of us when it comes to taking advantage of what Mother Earth has to offer. Baumraum or ‘tree-room’ is a German based studio that specializes in sustainable, livable, amazingly sturdy tree houses. The firm consists of architects, landscape designers, tree experts and craftsmen who make each client’s ultimate childhood dream a reality. We mean really, can you imagine how much fun having your own, functioning tree house could be? We are giddy thinking about the possibilities. Our inner seven-year-old is itching to come out and play.

Each Baumraum project is approached uniquely, taking the client’s wishes and also the tree into consideration. One of the firm’s major objectives in their designs is ensuring the protection and preservation of the trees where they build these livable dwellings. It is ensured that no damage is done to the trees chosen for the project.

The structures are typically built off-site and are then put together in the tree, held up by cables, textile belts, and the natural sturdiness of the tree. Each project is different, but some of the tree houses they’ve build feature kitchens, heating, insulation, bedrooms, sound systems, glass windows, lighting, storage spaces, and plumbing.

The Baumraum group doesn’t prefer any one wood in particular, they use different types depending on the project and the chosen tree where the home will be built. Each creation is designed in a way to embrace and enhance the environment it is built into. The structures have many windows and outdoor seating, so you can have as much interaction with the tree as possible. Some signature design features include skylights, curved windows, wood paneling, aluminum cladding and railings, decks, and built-in seating, beds, and storage.

We’ve got to say, they’ve thought of everything. It’s not just a novel idea, it’s an actual functioning house. In a tree. Maybe we should rethink that house on the lake idea…

HighStreet.Cincinnati

Otto 82 Daybed via bedzine.com

Italian-born designer Paola Navone always seems at ease and relaxed as she travels the world. Juxtaposed with her calm, beautifully refined presence  is a turbulent, visionary mind chewing up expected notions and banal convention.  She fluently morphs from architect, designer and art director to interior decorator and exhibition and event organizer. Through it all, her visions remain reflective and uncommon.

Born in 1952 in Balzona, the southern portion of Turin, a young girl quickly grew to learn the value of creation by handcrafting her own dolls and treasures. She rejected traditional paths that were envisioned for her by her parents. Constant were her environmental explorations in order to satisfy her self-described compulsive and all-consuming curiosity

Ms. Navone studied architecture at the Turin Polytechnic. Her early professional career was devoted to breaking through functional boundaries with her pieces. She gained widespread acclaim for her work with the Alchimia group, which opposed the structural design identity of that time by placing emphasis on colors, textures and decorative elements. Such avant-garde work was honored in 1983 by the reception of the prestigious International Design Award of Osaka. For the past thirty years, she has been an refreshing figure in the male-dominant Italian design scene.

Metal Garden Chair via marieclairemaison.com

Ms. Navone holds exceptional knowledge of a vast array of worldwide materials, whether Indian textiles, New Zealand wool, Moroccan fabrics orAsian stones. She is a true citizen of the world, dividing her time between Milan, Hong Kong, Paris and Greece. She envisions herself as an “enlightened and enlightening ethnic nomad’. She is known as an “objet magicienne”. She strives to create design mongrels by mingling modern brilliance with traditional handcraft, placing value on artistic conceptions born almost by mistake.

Over her long and prestigious career she has developed an immense client base and collaborated with pinnacle companies such as Abet Laminati, Armani Casa, Knoll International, Alessi,  Oltrefrontiera, Casamilano, Swarkovski, Dada and Poliform Egizia. Her expertise in exhibition design is evident in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. In 1988 she created the Mondo brand together with Giulio Cappellini. Movements credited to her intuition brought about large, assymmetrical lounge furniture as well as the shabby-chic look. Paola’s Gingerbread Collection for Lando is the pinnacle of creativity. Her recent works of interior architecture include the restaurant “Pane e Acqua” in Milan, the new Art Trading Office in Moscow and a new collaborative series of bathroom products with Viva Ceramica entitled “Drops”. She has designed her own home in Greece overlooking the Aegean Sea. Ms. Navone has been the art director of Gervasoni since 1988.

Paola Navone is a quixotic genius. Her soul overflows with flavors, textures and colors from the East contrasted with forms and structures of the West. Mechanized industrial steel outdoor furniture can be humanized with vintage German knit fabric cushions.  She jolts old-world craftmanship against new age industry. She believes the future look to be about many different styles unabashedly pieced together. The staff at HighStreet totally gets this and encourages such an approach for any homeowners looking to stylishly personify their own spaces .

BIG is an architecture firm based in and practicing mainly in Copenhagen that has been churning out some pretty innovative ideas. One of our favorites is their VM Bjerget (VM stands for Vestamager, the neighborhood in which it’s located, and bjerget means “mountain”). This apartment complex doesn’t hide its parking structure underground or behind an ugly façade. Instead, the garage rises up several stories, shrouded in perforated metal which, when you stand back, forms the image of a mountain range. The apartments sit on top of the stepped structure, giving each its own terrace.

But BIG wasn’t satisfied just making the outside of the building attractive. The metal façade hides a surprising and innovative interior. The hallways on each floor leading to the apartments have walls of windows looking down into the parking, and each is painted a different color. From inside the garage, these hallways form a rainbow of light overhead. The walls of the garage have murals stained into them, and even the traffic markings on the floor are different from anything we’ve seen before.

Another of BIG’s recent projects is a tower designed for a site near the center of Copenhagen. The city is known for its extensive network of pedestrian public spaces, and BIG used this to their advantage. They tempered the possible negative reaction of having a building taller than its surroundings by incorporating a public space that climbs up the façade of the building.

The building starts out as a giant stairway rising out of the ground, leading up to the various facilities in the building—a store, a library, a hotel—gradually twisting and getting steeper. Eventually the stairs gracefully turn into a vertical tower rising out of the public plaza they’ve created.

BIG also has an extremely informative website. Make sure to check it out and watch the animations explaining how they come up with the inventive forms of their buildings.

Michael Tyznik.HighStreet.Columbus

Met Home’s “Cool Summer Issue”  this July/August is full of substance, particularly architectural and innovative.  I took it to dinner with me, dining alfresco with my husband.  I began to peruse its pages, fully expecting to be done before the appetizer arrived.  As I got into it, I found that this issue was full of great content. In fact, not only was I not through with it after the entrée, I was so inspired that I asked my husband to go through it with me again once we got home so that we might discuss certain ideas that might be relevant to the design of our new house.

Beginning with a beautifully-captured wooden dock scene displaying the header “Summer Living” on page fifty-one, Met Home’s summer layout of top notch design projects includes getaways from upstate New York and the Texas Hill Country, to Jackson Hole and Puerto Rico.  Of particular interest was the feature on the acclaimed Hix Island House in Vieques, Puerto Rico… but that’s personal—we go to Vieques every chance we get and have visited this successfully-conceived bed and breakfast during our time there.

Metropolitan Home July/Aug 2009

Each project featured in this layout has something to offer that is stimulating.  The exterior shot of a home in New York by architects Joe Tanney and Robert Luntz is a striking example of excellent, modern composition and the interior walls comprised of hot-rolled steel impress as they set the tone for the well-appointed interior.  At the Texas home featured in the magazine, an outdoor passageway is industrial, fun and functional without being overbearing, and the bonus of a lakeside napping pavilion from the same project is a scene that inspires lazy envy.

Next, a Swedish-influenced bedroom that demonstrates the beauty and value of an excellent textile placed in the perfect setting. This spare, primarily white retreat offers a refreshing respite from the wood, steel and concrete previously featured.  As you progress, you will encounter the disciplined playfulness of yet another excellent modern project.  The Mondrian-inspired Jackson Hole house designed by Eric Logan delivers a crisp finish that leaves you pleasantly lightheaded.

You would think there could be no more—and then, crammed in, before you reach the modest spread of advertisements, is an outrageously edgy English garden. Both genius and frivolous, it ends this summer journey unexpectedly, burning an image of a secret pool into your mind that cannot be removed.

If you have a hankering to journey through a portfolio of excellent American design this summer, make sure to pick up Metropolitan Home.  Bravo.

Leah Spurrier. HighStreet