Monthly Archives: December 2011

A garden can be anything from the overzealous to the minimal. Below is a tribute to the suggestion, rather than the full expression, of what a garden can be.

A London house and garden from architect John Pawson, 1999: A landscape showcasing the value of very well-placed one.

The Xiao-Yen house by San Francisco and Hawaii based architect Craig Steely: The sparse and arid rooftop garden opens to spectacular 360° views of the city, this particular one directed at hilltop Culver City Park.

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Below, a narrow plot is given extended depth as the garden continues onto the house's façade.

Here, same concept, different setting: Lush planting gives an illusion of space.

Below, a well-stocked planter in a house by Los Angeles architect A. Quincy Jones. Known as a pioneer in the area of greenbelts, Jones applies the concept here in micro-version.

Hope is the thing with feathers. Sometimes, only a few feathery stalks are hope enough for an entire garden.

Why hide the things we love and make them inaccessible? Why not allow them to be a part of our daily lives? To make use of their tactility and aroma, to have them always at our fingertips?

Or: Why not just display them for their own sake?

Make them a functioning part of the decor:

As part of the view.

Besides, the electronic book will never replace the coffee table book. The kind of books that we love especially, art and design books – heavy, thick, and loaded with the kind of high-resolution images that only paper can do justice to – will never find a reasonable surrogate in a digital version.

Why simply stop with a library; why not build a cathedral?

Or, just bring them into the space already available. Like a treasured guest.

Humanity's attraction to the glittery is likely as old as humanity itself. As long as there has been desire for flaunting one's status over another, there were glittery gewgaws created to do it. And when it comes to glitz, gold has no betters.

Gold is the ultimate symbol of wealth and splendor. In design this is all too often translated as excess. Gold may be the king of metals but it's no sovereign of subtlety.

But even in its most abusive use, gold still wows us. What other material can so dazzle and appall at the same time?

And yet, with the right master that glitz can be elevated into something beyond mere glitter.

Above, Acido Dorado by Palm Springs-born Robert Stone: Gold metallic paint, reflecting pools, and mirrored surfaces attenuate the shininess factor to 11. Give credit to Stone for the architectural courage of taking gold from the traditional vulgar and creating a desert oasis that is both tasteful (if not entirely subdued) and, amazingly, evenhanded.

Stone

As an accent gold tends to be zealous. Its effect can be dependent on the colors that surround it. Gold tile in a black background seems to keep the Vegas-ness under control.

Muted tones can mute the glitzier aspects down comfortably.

As a single feature it tends to make everything around it a little shinier. The black bottles help.

Below, Louis the XIV style updated and fused with some Moorish details. The gleam of the metals, mirrors, and stones taken altogether makes gold appear like a logical choice.

The pink walls work to push down the gold accenting all around. Like having Marilyn Monroe and Jane Mansfield standing side-by-side, the radiance of each would cancel the other's out.

Even a byzantine dull, dark gold has an impact.

But, of course, if it's going big you want, then gold shines harder than anything in the Periodic Table.

For the Bugatti Veyron sultanate clientele, what else but gold?