Casa Corallo is set amongst a mountainous forest in Guatemala, and appears very much at home amongst its leafy woodland surroundings. Designed by PAZ Arquitectura, the exterior is comprised of three levels and is made of exposed concrete slabs and rustic wood. With the designers determined that the house must complement its environment rather than compete with it, the owner’s closest neighbours are the surrounding trees, with glass used all throughout the home. Outside elements are further used inside the house with a sizable wooden tree trunk growing up through the living room floor, its branches stretching out into other areas of the home. The interior is equally as impressive as the exterior, as you enter through an oversized, reclaimed wooden door to rooms filled with textured stone, glass shelving, dark wooden floors and the pièce de résistance; a large custom built fireplace. 

Architects Felipe Hess and Renata Pedrosa have masterfully converted this original Oscar Niemeyer space into a refurbished contemporary loft. Located in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the original 140sqm Oscar Niemeyer creation was completely demolished, except for the columns and shafts, before the duo undertook the new build division. Taking on great challenge such as the refurbishment of a Niemeyer is no mean feat. And we are more than impressed with the outcome. The project set about transforming the original three-bedroom interior into an open loft with no permanent partitions. Felipe Hess and Renata Pedrosa, introduced a central block to the space to divide the private and social spaces. The main divide cleverly houses linen and closets on one side, with the other side hosting an extensive shelving system and built in concrete bench. The entire space encompasses raw, exposed concrete with stark white walls and exposed piping. These industrial finishes perfectly merge with the wide floor boards and wooden shelves which introduce a sense of warmth to the space, resulting in an interior that captures both the aesthetic of modern loft living with the ambience of contemporary living. The expansive view of the skyline through the windows also allows for ample natural light to flood through the loft. The fact that there are no barriers, or walls in the structural design also aids in the open fluid concept of the space. Steel robust open-able sliding side doors act as dividers, which once opened become one with the exposed column and act as part of the design neatly folded on either side.  The exposed columns and slabs have all been retained from the original structure, which help to preserves the architectural importance of the space. Opposite the main bedroom stands an original concrete wall from the 50-year-old historical building, with all the flaws left untouched. 

Hel Yes, a design studio by Helsinki architect Ville Hara and designer Linda Bergroth launched a greenhouse and shed kit a couple of years ago for gardeners. Substantially more aesthetically pleasing that garden sheds we're accustomed to seeing, Hel Yes designer Linda Bergroth clearly thought so too. She customised the garden shed to make a summer home for herself. By adding a wooden floor, steps made from reclaimed bricks and solar panels for lighting, the simple shed takes on an architectural approach with this transformation, enabling it to fit seamlessly in with its surroundings, whilst providing the perfect view from the inside out.

Last week, a project I've followed since its inception, finally launched in downtown Auckland to much interest and acclaim. Attempting to challenge and win the world land speed record is no easy feat. However, for a group of talented New Zealand designers and engineers it serves as little deterrence. Headed up by Richard Nowland, who's dedicated his life to this project for the past three years, we caught up with him to find out exactly how you build a car that can reach speeds of upwards of 1000mph.

DF: Tell me about Jetblack.

RN: Jetblack is a NZ led challenge on the world land speed record...I say NZ led as we have selected engineers from within NZ but also an increasing number of international members of the team. The current land speed record stands at 763mph or just over the speed of sound and was set in 1997 by a British team and their vehicle Thrust SSC. Jetblack was established in 2007 and at that stage we were starting to design a vehicle to break the NZ and Australian land speed records, a mere 500mph, – while doing so some key engineers were found and the capability within the team existed to go well beyond that. The design process that followed produced something that has the capability to go beyond the current challengers of the record who are aiming at 1,000mph.

DF: When did you first decide to challenge this record?
 
RN: It started to grow within the team in 2010. The initial evaluation of our aerodynamicist Richard Roake’s first design established it has very good performance characteristics and that it was capable of much more than originally anticipated. The idea of the world land speed record was always as a 2nd project once we’d built a first car and broken the NZ and Australian records – this slipped away as we entered 2011 as the confidence of the team in the design grew and we realised what it was capable of.

DF: It's NZ's first challenge on this record, it’s a big deal. What technology(s) are you employing that you think will get NZ across the line?

RN: The only two countries to have ever held this record over the last hundred and ten years or so are the US and Great Britain. One of the biggest challenges with such a small country like NZ mounting a challenge is that unlike the US and UK we don’t have huge automotive or aerospace industries. We are, however, very good at inventing solutions for niche or peculiar problems. The vehicle uses unique technologies all over it. The aerodynamics and also how we simulate the airflow and interaction of dirt particles mixing with air underneath the vehicle is very unique. We established a partnership with a company in Spain called X-Flow CFD that can provide these simulations and provide the most accurate information available on what happens under the vehicle and around the rest of it. This is also planned to be the first all carbon fibre monocoque chassis used on a land speed record vehicle – using similar design and fabrication technology to Americas Cup racing yachts. There is no steel or aluminium frame with body panels attached, it’s all one structure – so unlike a human or a fish with bones as its structure the car is more like a crab or lobster – the skin is the structure as well. Very strong and very light.

DF: Working with Glynne Bowsher (designer of the current world land speed record holder) must offer some much needed insight into the competition, what’s it like having him design the wheels, such a critical part of the vehicle?

RN: Glynne brings such vast experience to the team. He was also involved with Thrust 2 which held the world record between 1983-1997. That project started in 1977 so he’s been involved with the world land speed record for longer than I’ve been alive. He’s also designed for the steam car world record and a challenger for the world water speed record. But despite all this experience he’s still very open to trying different methods of design and thinking about different ways to solve the wheel design challenge.

DF: What’s been the most challenging part to date with this ambitious project?
 
Jetblack started from nothing more than a dream; the project has been built completely from scratch. It seems a long time ago now but there was a time when the key people were still not found and the concept for what Jetblack represented was still quite ambiguous. Most challenging has been building the team – the best engineers don’t want to be associated with projects that aren’t worthy of their time – they have better things to do….and being engineers they tend to be quite conservative and reluctant when deciding what to get involved with. The one thing I am most proud of today is the people we have with us. There’s a definite quality and personality trait that we all share. The eventual design and development of the car, and the way it is run, will be a reflection of the people involved – so effective team selection is also the most important part at this stage.

DF: What are key design elements in the car that ensure speed efficiency?

There’s nothing in the car that’s not absolutely necessary; however the major elements are the aerodynamics, propulsion and wheels. The car doesn’t work without all the necessary components like hydraulics or wheel bearings etc but if you get the three fundamentals wrong nothing else matters. Aerodynamics relates to the airflow and also the particles kicked up by the wheels – Richard Roake’s job is to not only ensure the design is efficient (low drag) but also to ensure it remains in control throughout the range of speeds that will be encountered. Part of the difficulty is that what works for one end of the velocity spectrum may not work at the other end – getting both these has been called the holy grail. Unlike aircraft that have open skies to operate in should design imperfections be present – with Jetblack we’re designing for supersonic speeds within only a few millimeters to operate with all 4 wheels on the ground – it’s an extraordinarily difficult task.

DF: What speeds are you hoping to reach in order to obtain the record, and when?
 
RN:We’re not entirely sure where we’ll reach in terms of a final speed. Several challengers are aiming for the 1,000mph mark which is ambitiously higher than the current record of 763mph (1,246km/h) set in 1997. The limits of technology are where we are aiming to reach but we’re quite confident that will be well beyond the thousand miles per hour mark. Watch this space.

For more information about Jetblack visit www.jetblack.co.nz

Designed by Portuguese architects Bak Gordon, the residences replace former industrial sheds in the Santa Isabel district of Lisbon.  The design of this house draws reference to the city that exists within the city. The architects' brief called for the construction of two houses, a bigger one for the family’s daily life and another two-bedroom one to be rented -  all to be built in the area of about 400 square meters for which construction was authorised, replacing the existing sheds. The house is built solely of exposed reinforced concrete, with very regular and hierarchical spaces. Inside the house, we move among patios and gardens where trees have been planted, projecting the house’s scale over time. The peripheral limits have been covered in green climbers, while the other walls and roofs are left simultaneously powerful and delicate, to resist the pressure of the environment.
 

Blurring the line between horticulture and art, landscape and architecture, the Square Bar at the new Hotel Novotel Auckland Airport is has quite literally, taken on a life of it’s own. Sitting at the centre of this bar is a stunning array of native New Zealand flora in the form of a two story ‘green’ wall, created by Natural Habitats.

With a track record of successful green wall projects (including the Stephen Marr Wall inside Takapuna’s Department Store and Britomart East wall) Natural Habitats director Graham Cleary believes that this wall, which was installed earlier this month, ‘could be our best yet.’ Not only visually interesting and environmentally beneficial, the wall was designed to add a sense of balance and harmony that is difficult to achieve by other means.

The emphasis on indigenous foliage, a composition of ferns and pan pacific creepers, complements the new hotels distinctive New Zealand style. Designed by Warren & Mahoney, the hotel incorporates sustainable Southland Beech woodwork, black sand inspired marble and its 263 rooms combine New Zealand’s distinctive cultural heritage with modern architecture.

The benefits of real, living plants in places where you don’t expect to see them don’t end at the aesthetics. The 60m2 of vertical vegetation will improve the bar’s indoor air quality by increasing humidity levels and removing air pollutants, not to mention inspire conversation. As if we needed another reason to go to the bar anyway...

 Story by Louisa Penney

Asus has just released the prototype imaging for its new phone/tablet hybrid called the Padfone. The Padfone operates by using the smart phone as the tablet's processor. On its own the smart phone operates like a regular phone: you can take calls, use the internet, store documents, use apps etc, however, when you insert it into the tablet you have the added advantage of a larger screen, with large touch pad keys and seamless integration between the two; any documents, apps you have open on the smart phone, will open immediately on the tablet when the phone is inserted.

Of all the iPad covers we've seen, it's this wooden one by Holland firm Miniot that has us most excited. Like other covers in the market, it puts the iPad to sleep when you close the cover, and wakes it up when you open it. With the ability to roll it back into a stand, and weighing it at a mere 100 grams at 3mm thick, it offers screen protection without unneccessary bulk. We particularly like that they offer free artwork engravings, giving you the ability to really personalise your cover.

For more information go here.

This new APP for iPhone 4 and iPad named A-Frame, allows you to customise fonts in any of your portable apple devices with your own choice of fonts. If you're like us, and have a more individual approach to visual aesthetics this APP is for you.

Available for download from $1.99 here.

In addition to the inexplicable hole Michael Jackson left behind musically following his death 2009, he also left behind many possessions society had come to associate him by. Prior to his passing, Swiss-born photographer Henry Leutwyler visited his home Neverland to capture his trove of belongings. He explains:

This collection of photographs was never intended to be a book. In February of 2009, I flew to California on a magazine assignment to photograph the iconic white glove of pop star Michael Jackson. Even though I am a lifelong portrait photographer, I have always had the urge to investigate people through the simplicity of the artifacts that make up their lives. I went to Los Angeles with one vision in mind and little more than a day to capture it. Michael Jackson’s primary home at Neverland had been vacant for several years and his belongings lay packed and stored in crates, awaiting public auction. When I arrived at the venue for the shoot, I had no idea what I’d find. What I discovered in those crates evoked in me a deep sadness. From the man who would be king, his artifacts were of the simplest design. A sequinned tube sock. A child’s trinket. The famous glove – so revealing in its dime store simplicity, so mundane in its plainness.

The photographs form the basis of his book: Neverland Lost - A portrait of Michael Jackson. The book is available here.