36 mètres-carrés

lavomatique

2008-04-27T22:33:00.002+03:00

lavomatique
Originally uploaded by 36metres-carres

I've seen this on recent trip to Strasbourg, France. Reminded of the times in my first apartment where i didn't have a washer and had to go to a launderette in my neighbourhood to wash my laundry...I've rarely seen them in Switzerland, though.

Inspiration: Outdoor sink

2008-03-09T15:50:00.002+02:00

pia externa
Originally uploaded by Caio Estudio Manus

Found this over at Apartment Therapy: A simple, but beautiful outdoor sink. But actually, you could also have one like this in the guest toilet ( given, you have one in your apartment, i haven't, unfortunately...).

Photo credit to Caoi Estudio Manus.

Exhibitions...Plenty !

2008-02-23T18:08:00.003+02:00

Springtime is approaching and this year there are many very interesting exhibitions going on in Switzerland !

Julius Shulman photographe, une vie pour l'architecture

This exhibition about the american photographer Julius Shulman is taking place at archizoom EPFL/Enac at the University of Lausanne from february 21st until the 4th of april.
Lovely photos taking by him of the american modernist architecture during the 1950s and 1960s.

Mon-fri 9am to 6pm, sat 10am to 5pm
Building SG, EPFL Lausanne

La Quinzaine de l'architecture contemporaine

This year again, the SIA is organizing house-tours of contemporary homes and buildings throughout four cantons ( FR,VD,GE,NE). The tours take place from april 19 to 27th.
For the detailed program please refer to http://www.15n.ch/ .

Vitra Design Museum: Living under the Crescent Moon - Domestic Culture in the Arab World

An Exhibition about the arabic architecture and living culture. Taking place at The Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany from february 23rd to august 31st.
More information here.
This is definitely on my list ;-))

Max Bill - in Honor of his 100th anniversary

The city of Winterthur is honoring the 100th anniversary of its citizen Max Bill (1908-1984) with two exhibitions. The Gewerbemuseum is showing his architectural works, and the Kunstmuseum is honoring the artist and painter that he was. Both museums are exhibiting from january 20th to may 12th.

The tourist office of Winterthur is offering an interesting "Max Bill- Package", so have a look here for more information.

(Also on my 'must see' list ).

Mudac Lausanne: Dysfashional

The Mudac in Lausanne will show "Dysfashional" from march 12th to june 8th. Theme is fashion, but you won't see clothes. It is about the approach of designing fashion and creates scenarios around the materials. Seems very interesting ( to me, at least ).

Place de la Cathédrale 6, Lausanne.

Photo exhibition "Utopia" in Carouge

2008-02-14T21:46:00.004+02:00

exposition sur la cité du lignon ...
Originally uploaded by gva_jb

A friend is showing currently his photos at "Le Cheval Blanc" in Carouge, Geneva.

Julien Barro is a young architect and photographer, and is exhibiting a photo series about the Cité du Lignon.

The series shows the suburb neighbourhood Cité du Lignon in Geneva, making the huge , uniform buildings almost beautiful and individual, like for example the photo of the flyer above with hundreds of like windows but actually every window is made unique by its inhabitants.

Other pictures in this series show young people skateboarding, jumping etc. in this architectural context.

I've loved the exhibition for the different view you can get on these suburban neighbourhoods, which mainly consist of huge buildings designed to accommodate a maximum of people, and which normally don't have an attractive appeal.

This fantastic exhibition is taking place ( until end of march ) at Le Cheval Blanc, 15 Place de l'octroi in Carouge / Geneva.
Go, and have a look !

Happy New Year

2008-01-20T18:53:00.000+02:00

A belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you !

It has been very quiet around here lately, my apologies ! I was soo busy and exhausted in december, and january started on a rough way.

I've been to Hamburg, Germany over the holidays, and took some nice architectural pictures.
Hamburg is my hometown, and since a long time i wanted to document the various entry doors in the neighbourhoods i used to live ( Eppendorf, Harvestehude, Eimsbüttel ) and those neighbourhoods which weren't too much damaged during the war. So this time, i mainly took pictures of doors in the neighbourhood of St Pauli near the harbour. After a little research work on my side, i'll post them here.

Above, you see beautiful old mailboxes, which i found in the entrance of an old, transformed soap-factury building in Hamburg-Winterhude. I love the simple design, and the workmanship which is paying a lot of attention to details.

Also coming up soon, is a report of one of my very favourite architects, Hadi Teherani.

VIELFACH Zürich - the smallest design shopping center

2007-11-25T15:33:00.000+02:00

Yesterday i went to Zurich to visit the Design exposition "Blickfang" with some friends. Before though, we went to the Seefeld neighbourhood, and had a look at the smallest design shopping center, "Vielfach". It is located in the Froehlichstrassse 41 and the shop really is small.

The interior is kept simple, all in white with two walls of showcases. The particularity is that each case is rented to independent designers and creators who wish to sell their (handmade) products and creations. All kinds of products can be found here, knitted and sewn items as well as painted or photographed mini-series, books in small editions, crazy, useful, beautiful ...everything is possible.

Each case has its own lighting, and is filled up by the artist who rents it.
There are so many different types of articles, i have bought some small magnetique bookmarkers to give as a christmas gift, i've seen baby t-shirts with funny prints on them, lovely felt-bags, ceramics and hand-made jewellery.

The principle of the shop is explained by a very nice salesgirl, and though the shop itself is small, there is much to see and discover ! And if you can't make it to the shop, they also offer the possiblility to buy on-line.

So, if you go to Zurich, have a stop in the Froehlichstrasse 41, it really is worth it !

Self-Promotion

2007-11-13T19:59:00.000+02:00

Back in July, the editor in chief from an italian magazine contacted me via Flickr and asked if i wanted to publish my kitchen remodel. Of course !!

So, here it is, in the november edition of Casa Facile.

I'm sooo proud of this ! Why ?
Because it is my first "real" project, after two years of evening school in interior design.
The first project which i did all by myself, from drawing the floorplans, researching suppliers, materials and companies for the big works, over to organizing and supervising the whole thing.
This article is a reward to the result of my work !

Thank you so much at Casa Facile, especially Giusi Silighini ( editor in chief ) and Claudio Malaguti ( text ) for the wonderful article, thank you so much !

New feature on the sidebar !

2007-11-04T17:13:00.000+02:00

I've added a new feature on the sidebar ( below the ads ):
From now on, i'll put all the adresses of the manufacturers, suppliers, shops and designers in a seperate rubric, so it will be easier to search for specific items.

Neue Räume 07: arte diffusione

2007-11-04T16:44:00.000+02:00

A wonderful chandelier seen at the booth of "arte diffusione", a shop which represents various international light and lamp manufacturers.

Neue Räume 07: Eternit

2007-11-04T15:58:00.000+02:00

Eternit (Schweiz) AG is mostly known for its planter collection, which you can find about anywhere in Switzerland in public places as well as on balconies. Eternit is in fact a construction material, to be more excat it can be described as fibre-cement, made of cement, lime-stone, fibre, air and water.
At "Neue Räume", Eternit presented less known though astonishing designs, such as the "Strandstuhl" which was designed in 1954 already by Willy Guhl. This chair has been re-edited in 1997.

In 1951 Anton Bee and Willy Guhl created "Spindel", to be seen in above picture in the front. It is one of the planters which made Eternits reputation.

Eternit AG has always asked designers to create new designs, either for the planter collection or other garden accessories. After the asbestos crisis, the composition has been reworked and since 25 years Eternit products are asbestos free. But the image had suffered serious damage at that time.
The past years, Eternit AG has also worked with various design schools. The bird houses have been designed in 2006/2007 by Vladimir Jaccard from ECAL. I think they are lovely, and would love to have one pending in a tree if i had a garden...

Also above "Mold Lamp" was designed by a ECAL student, Michel Charlot. The lamp walls are not thicker than handmade paper. This would fit perfectly in a loft or industrial-inspired working / living environment !

In my opinion, the Eternit (Schweiz) AG booth was one of the most surprising at the exposition, showing how to use an industrial construction material for different purposes. Not to forget that each piece is hand-made in Switzerland !

Neue Räume 07: Veuve Cliquot "My Yellow Dream"

2007-10-16T21:33:00.000+03:00

Veuve Cliquot asked five swiss designers to live their creative "yellow dream". The result has been shown for the first time at Neue Räume before the exhibition will travel through Switzerland.
The Yellow Dream is to be understood as a tribut to the typical Veuve Cliquot-yellow. The project has been supervised by Mr Peter Keller, director of the design-school ECAL in Lausanne.

Above is a quite special design, a mix between carpet and cushions, perfect for relaxing on it...with a glass of champagne ? It's called "Gnom" and has been designed by Nina Eigenmann.

This wonderful chandelier is composed of champaign-glasses, beautiful !

The lamp "Champagnion" by Jörg Boner is my favourite: it is made of cardboard that has been stuck together. It has a circular "lightbulb".

"Relax" by Ruckstuhl, Design by Aude Genton

2007-10-16T21:14:00.000+03:00

The swiss designer Aude Genton created this wonderful felt-carpet "Relax", which was shown at Designer's Saturday last year in Langenthal. She left me a comment to inform that the company Ruckstuhl is now commercialising it.
It measures 180x300 cm and is the perfect floor covering to hang around and just be comfortable and lazy ! I wish i had a big enough area in my home to put it ...

Thank you, Aude, for the information !

Neue Räume 07: Van Esch - The Perfect Entrance

2007-10-11T20:28:00.000+03:00

Van Esch is a manufacturer of wardrobe systems and accessories for entrances. Their three main focal points are "presentation"," storage" and "to receive". The company is based in Goirle in the Netherlands and is working with numerous talented european designers to create solutions for entrance areas, as well as for professionals as for private clients.
Their products can be found in selected shops in many european countries.

(Photo: by me )

"Circus", is a wardrobe solution for small entrances in homes and available in many colors. It has been designed by the dutch designer Roderick Vos. The picture above shows several "Circus" assembled together.

(Photo: Van Esch )

"Chase" is another metallic wardrobe, designed by James Irvine from England. I particularly like its slim lines and the contrast between straight and circular formes. Also here, many colors are available.

(Photo: Van Esch )

A wall-mounted variation is also offered.

(Photo: Van Esch)

The german designer Matthias Demacker created "Origami", a series of benches and tables awarded by the "Red Dot Design Award" in the Product design category.
Two sizes are available which allow different uses. They can be used as a coffeetable, as a bench near the entry to sit down while putting on / off your shoes, and so on.

(Photo: Van Esch )

This is definitely my favourite:
The "Half a table" by Miriam van der Lubbe and Niels van Eijk, both from The Netherlands.
It is elegant though simple, it is the perfect "landing strip" ( read this ), it can be used in actually every room of a home : entrance ( landing strip ), living room ( bar-table, side table to host your framed family photos ), bedroom ( coiffeuse ).

All products are high quality, and more can be found in their three product ranges "Part of the Picture", "Part of your Picture" and "Hooks and Hangers".
Have a look at the website: www.van-esch.com. You'll also find there all retailers per country.

I must say, that Van Esch was one of my favourites at "Neue Räume", because they showed innovative design which works as well for use in an professional environment such as offices, showrooms etc., as in private homes, where people often have to deal with a limited amount of space.

Coming next: Neue Räume in Zurich (29.9.-7.10.2007)

2007-10-09T21:24:00.000+03:00

Coming up next:
the design and furniture exposition "Neue Räume" which took place in Zurich-Oerlikon from 29th september to 7th october.

I went last saturday and found some nice new designs and materials.

Over 90 national and international exxposants took part, coming from various domains such as furniture, light, kitchen, bath and textiles. New trends and ideas were shown on 8000m2 within the Event-Halle 550 in Zurich-Oerlikon.

This exposition also featured several specail expos and has become one of the most important design-shows in Switzerland during the past years.

So, please stay tuned, more coming up within the next days !

Homes in Switzerland: Hélène and Denis' Apartment

2007-09-06T15:26:00.000+03:00

Today, we'll tour an absolutely fabulous apartment situated near Lausanne.

The apartment is in a new building, but as it is the one on the very top floor, it gives the feeling of living in a seperate house of its own.

When Hélène and Denis bought the apartment the building still was in the planning stage which allowed them to adapt and change the floorplan according to their taste and needs.

They wanted an open and lofty allover ambiance, creating a very modern, almost industrial look. This has been achieved by many of their own designs ( lights of LED, custom-made kitchen ) and an unique flooring allover the main level made from italian stone tiles, all 60x60 cm. Also, the concrete wall with its red accent, details such as glassbrick walls lined with inox surroundings, add to the coherent modern look.

The surface of the apartment, including the mezzanine is 162 m2 and 93 m2 of surrounding terrasse.

So, come on as we enter:

Unusual, but the entrance door is made of glass, which has been partially sanded with geometrical patterns. Once you come inside, an open cupboard seperating the glassbrick wall allows you to view directly towards the lake and the alps on the french side of the lake. Denis pointed out that he wanted to avoid a narrow "hallway-feeling" and wished to create an airy and lightflooded entrance.

Stairs lead up from here to the mezzanine.
Beneath the stairs a commode serves as landing strip, with a lovely and light little lamp.

The kitchen is part of the open plan main room . The furniture has been designed by themselves and is custom-made. As Denis explains, he wanted the kitchen to be part of the main room but without actually seeing that there is a kitchen. You'll find no hanging cabinets, and if you look from the living room area towards the kitchen, the central block does not give impression of a kitchen.

For the cooking there is a vitroceram and two ovens, the ventilation had to be custom-made because of the high ceilings. The roof had to be reinforced with concrete in order to carry the weight of the ventilation. Its height is 3.5 metres and the manufacturer is Gutmann in Germany.

The lighting is mainly LED, notice it installed beneath the furniture. This also was one of Denis' ideas who wanted to create an effect of floating furniture.

The hanging lampes also work with LED and are from Catellani&Smith.

The dining room is next to the kitchen with big bay windows on all three sides. From here there is also a direct access to the surrounding terrasse.

If you wonder what is that glass box next to the table: this is the homes of Hélène's mice ! And wait, there are also two cats living here !

So, let's have a look towards the livingroom:

As already seen in the kitchen, the ceiling here also is very high and goes up to the roof. The perfect height for the lovely Castellani & Smith lamp hanging above the coffeetable !

Furniting has been kept spare, in order to maintain the clean and modern look of the whole apartment.

Also from here there is a direct access to the terrasse, only light string-curtains give some privacy to the next doors house.

This is the wall opposite to the windows and terrasse. It has been left in concrete, obliging Hélène and Denis to buy the wooden panels to do this wall, as they had to be unused. One part of this wall has been colored in red to create an accent, and about two thirds have been left unpainted. Denis had asked that little holes are in the wall in order to hide all the cables of the TV and Hifi supplies. Note how nice a media center can look whitout apparent cables. You'll see later where they go.

Also here, Denis worked with LED to create indirect lighting , as for example shown around the flatscreen TV and the light fixtures made by himself which illuminate the paintings.
All the paintings are made by Hélène.

The glassbrick wall parting from the entrance is aligned with the concrete wall in the living room. This was made on purpose to give the mezzanine a floating look, emphasized by the negative joint ("joint négatif") above the concrete wall.

The floor is covered with italien stone tiles 60x60 cm which have a main shade of anthracite with beige and brown reflects.

This also adds to the modern clean style of the apartment and pulls the the main level together as these tiles have been used in all main level spaces.

Next, we'll have a look on the mezzanine. The painting in the staircase is made by Hélène.

A big tiger greets you when coming up the stairs ! He won't bite.

This is used a s a multi-purpose space. Hélène paints here, it's their home office and serves as a guestroom with a convertible sofa. This is the only space where hardwood floors have been used.

Also here, details count: the power outlet is in the floor, aceessible by opening the metal flap.

And back down we go...Behind the red accent wall, a switchboard with all main electrical commands has been installed. From here lights in the kitchen , dining, living room as well as in the entrance area can be controlled. Also the terrasse store are commanded from here.
The lovely painting, again, has been made by Hélène.

Another painting from Hélène, to the right a door leads to the second bathroom with its adjacent laundry room.

This bathroom is quite big, entering you'll find a red commode to your right, and then behind a glassbrick wall the spa-bathtub. The design of the sink is modern and simple, again according to the overall look of this home. Color has been added by the seventies-style plastic curtains and accessories on the bathtub edge.

Lets now turn to the master bedroom and bathroom, passing by the dressing area.

In the dressing room you find the back of the livingroom wall, hiddden behaind a door. All the electrical cables are alimented and hidden here.

The main bedroom also kept the ceiling open up to the roof, which allowed to create a wall full of closets. Adjacent to the bedroom is the en suite bathroom.

Spacious and full of light, the design is kept modern and simple. Here again, the italian floor tiles.

From the livingroom we go outside on the huge terrasse. Don't worry, the cat is alive, please meet 'Leo', the reincarnation of Garfield.

The terrasse is orientated plain south, with a lovely view of the Lake of Geneva ( Lac Léman ) and the French Alps. It allows to furniture it generously in order to enjoy the view and sun.

The apartment is surrounded by a balcony-like path and leads to a biotop at the rear, next to it a huge palmtree found a home in a giant pot.

So, now we've literally done the tour. I hope you enjoyed it !

Many, many thanks go to Hélène and Denis who generously allowed me to take photos of their perfect home. Again, Milles Mercis !

If any magazines ( printed or online ) are interested to publish pictures of their home and for further information, Hélène and Denis will appreciate a lot.

For contact, please leave me a message with "Hélène and Denis" in the subject line at this email adress: 36m2(at)gmx(dot)ch

I'll forward the mail to them and they'll come back to you.

Featured on Michelle Caplan's Blog

2007-08-28T19:22:00.000+03:00

My livingroom wall with my Michelle Caplan collages, featured on her blog on july 31st.
Michelle, i so love your work !
Have a look at her Etsy shop.

Featured on Apartment Therapy

2007-08-28T18:33:00.000+03:00

My little DIY project has been featured on Apartment Therapy on August 17th !

Squirrel

2007-08-15T21:05:00.001+03:00

Squirrel
Originally uploaded by 36metres-carres

I've ordered this at Made In Design and the parcel has been waiting for me to pick it up at the post office for a couple of days already. Today after work i went.
It's a tray, but it comes with a device for hanging it up as a picture. Which i will do this weekend.
It'll have its new home my living wall.

I love it, as it represents one of my favorite animals and because it is "kitsch" in a lovely way.....

Homes in Switzerland: Loft near Zurich

2007-07-23T19:19:00.000+03:00

This the loft of a friend of mine, situated near Zurich. It's the first of a series of Homes in Switzerland i'll feature from time to time.

So this first one is about 200m2 big, one big room. It's a rental, situated in a transformed chocolate manufacture.

The space has been divided into different areas, such as bedroom area on a podium, office, TV-lounge, living and eating. She seperated the space by using,for example, low BILLY shelves, creating at the same time enough storage for books and CD's. By chosing the lower version of BILLY, the open space feeling remains.

The open kitchen offers lots of storage and has a cooking island to keep in touch she's receiving guests.

To create a more intimate bedroom area, she separated it with large closets standing back to back from the entrance and hung stores down from the concrete ceiling.
Additional storage can be found underneath the podium where are huge ( really huge ! ) drawers.

The loft has two bathrooms located in a cubicle, one next to the other. They have translucent sliding doors.

The loft has a zen feeling, everything is kept together by choosing furniture in white color, as seen in the living room.

The meditation corner is situated between entrance and bathroom cubicle, and held in gold.

And some nice details...

Hope you enjoyed this little tour !

Special Thanks to G. who allowed me to take photos of her loft and publish them here. THANKS !!

Framed Cuttlery, inspired by Martha Stewart's "Living"

2007-07-21T15:27:00.000+03:00

One of my DIY-projects was to frame my childhood cuttlery into shadowboxes. I saw this idea of displaying unused kitchen items in the May 2007 issue of Martha Stewart's "Living" magazine, and thought it was a great idea !
So, off i went to IKEA to buy two RIBBA shadow boxes, i also bought some Velcro, the giftpaper i already had at home ( bought last year at Die Wäscherei in Hamburg ).

I first glued the giftpaper on a piece of paper and disposed it at the rear of the frame, then displayed the cuttlery, which i fixed with small velcro-straps onto it. Closed the frame, and hang it up, that's it !
It was done in less than 30 minutes and looks wonderful above my dining area in the kitchen.

My Playground: Fréderique Morrel

2007-07-17T15:36:00.001+03:00

DSCN0258_detour2
Originally uploaded by 36metres-carres

So, finally my resume on my "coup de coeur", seen at My Playground in Vevey at the end of may.

Fréderique Morrel is a Paris-based designer. She revalues popular needlework tapestries, recuperated from thrift stores, basements, attics of friends and family,and transforms them into unique, one-of-a-kind objects, such as cushions, small stools, lunchboxes or place mats. Whatever has not been re-used in a bigger object ( footstool, poufs ) will be used for creating a smaller one, so nothing is wasted or unused.

It's the "renaissance" of memories, of an almost forgotten idea of time where decoration was created by hand in a slow and concentrated manner. Each piece is unique, and bears a "re-birth-certificate" and is guaranteed "re-made in france".

Her objects can be found on an international level, allover Europe, as well as in Japan, Russia, Usa, where she is also featured at the MoMa.

Her atelier is in Paris, at rue Chabrol 50, and she can be contacted for further information at fmorrel at club-internet.fr

Enjoy the slide-show of her products, i really love this unique and original way to keep alive ancient handcrafted tapestries !

Or, see all photos at once, all courtesy of F. Morrel.

My Playground: Fréderique Morrel

2007-07-17T15:35:00.001+03:00

tap_pouf_2007
Originally uploaded by 36metres-carres

chat a louer

2007-06-21T22:02:00.001+03:00

chat a louer, originally uploaded by 36metres-carres.

Vu dans le journal "La Côte" d'aujourd'hui...

My playground...coming soon!

2007-06-12T22:17:00.001+03:00

Photo by Janne Peters
Originally uploaded by Before the Wind.

I've been to My Playground last sunday, and i must say: it was worth it. But...i'll post more in depth about it in a few days, due to some technical problems i've had and still have. In fact, my camera did not want to work on that day ( maybe because it was sunday and warm and sunny ?!) and i had to take pictures with my phone camera. Which i have trouble uploading to my computer ! But i'll figure out how that works, i've done it before.

There have been really nice, beautiful and stunning objects exposed, though my very favourite has been Frederique Morrel from Paris with his collection of re-made objects.

Meanwhile, enjoy this lovely Flickr-find !

My Playground

2007-05-27T14:19:00.001+03:00

affichemyp2007
Originally uploaded by 36metres-carres.

Next weekend takes place myplayground Design Hotel in Vevey, at the Hotel du Lac. This event has been organized by My Playground, Edelweiss and Espaces Contemporains and features 53 designers from Switzerland and abroad.

The event is open to the public on saturday, june 2nd from 10am to 7pm and on sunday, june 3rd from 12am to 6pm.

I'll be going, don't know yet which day though. Join in and come, there will be plenty of nice things, fashion and design to discover!

Photo taken from myplayground.biz