Design

The building [LIAG] forms a powerful and colourful (a la Mondriaan) completion of the Leeghwaterplein. Seen from the train, it serves as a calling card for ROC Mondriaan. The building has a grid shaped concrete façade decorated in the ROC colours. The effect in combination with the windows results in a strong whole — via ArchDaily

As much as I love these they’re not my favourite porthole around here. That honour is reserved for my $11 used-to-be-a-flimsy-brass-mirror porthole that I sunk into the floor and now serves as my laundry chute.

My laundry chute porthole was featured in the Los Angeles Times twice last year alone. When I get completely frustrated writing, painting, making films, curating AWMoK.com and everything else I fill my time with I always think I could go into the business of selling porthole laundry chutes — via Allee Willis Blog

Vietnamese designers Vo Trong Nghia combined natural materials like bamboo with contemporary design practices to create the wNw Bar in Thu Dau Mot Town, Binh Duong, Vietnam — via CONTEMPORIST

The site [AGI Architects] can be accessed from either side of the surrounding streets to allow for both a private and a public entrance. After moving along a curved wall that guides the visitor from the exterior of the plot into the centre, one reaches the main entrance into the house. Upon entering through the main door frame, the space opens up to reveal the swimming pool and the public living areas of the house. The form of the residence is reminiscent of the movement patterns of a mop, from which flexible volumes are organized diagonally around a central axis. This axis twists upwards to generate spaces that are channelling the vision in different directions: the front side of the house, side gardens and angles of the back street — via ArchDaily

The Yamaha XJ600 flies under the radar in the motorcycling world. Released in 1984, it’s often dismissed as yet another Universal Japanese Motorcycle. But this machine was the first 600cc inline four — making it the granddaddy of today’s 600 super-sports. And it had mono shock rear suspension, which was advanced technology 28 years ago.

Today, you don’t see many custom XJ600s. Probably because most of them have rusted away. But the small custom workshop Pimmel & Messer, from Schœneck in north-eastern France, has revealed how good the XJ600 can look with a few well-chosen mods — via Bike EXIF

There’s a marvellous bed and breakfast outside of Durby, Belgium called La Balade de Gnomes (Google Translate). It looks like it’s straight out of a fantasy movie. Outwardly, the building is a wooden bull. Inside, you can find an eccentric mixture of stucco and carved driftwood in the Gnome Revival style — via Neatorama

I’ve been satisfied with the Stanley FuBar demolition tool that Mark reviewed in 2008 (available in safety yellow!), but I am sorely tempted by the Annihilator Wrecking Bar, which sports all the same features as the FuBar, along with a bottle-opener, a board-straightener, a multi-purpose nail-puller, a demolition axe, and a chisel. Plus, it’s called THE ANNIHILATOR. John Scalzi’s bought one for his kid to use for zombie-defence training — via Boing Boing

The house [AR43 Architects] is a surprising discovery in the densely populated Singapore. Sited in one of Singapore’s prime shopping district, the house sits on a steep sloping terrain with mature rainforest trees at its peripheral. The intrinsic lush natural setting of the site brings about an extraordinary tranquillity and provided opportunities to design the house as a “retreat” and a “sanctuary” set out in the client’s brief. Extensive landscaping using tropical plants is further implemented to complement the existing landscape — via ArchDaily

Located on a dense hillside forest in the Santa Rosalía area of Guatemala City, Corallo House [PAZ Arquitectura] integrates the existing forest into the layout of the house. It merges nature into the architectural intervention. The design process began with the aim to preserve the existing trees, in order to have the trees interact with the living space — via ArchDaily

Among the traditional houses and run-of-the-mill apartment towers in Abiko, Japan sits a concrete monolith. Its angular façade is reminiscent of a massive sculpture, but this unusual object is actually a single-family home.

Designed by Fuse-Atelier, the Abiko House is a mere 80 square meters. The home sits on soft ground that necessitated the use of stakes to support its weight — via Dornob

Vértice Arquitectos designed this house in Cerro Azul, Peru — via CONTEMPORIST

The building’s geometry [CMA] mediates between the neighbouring structures. A white, L-shaped volume — containing the bedrooms on the upper floor — hovers over the U-shaped living area on the ground floor. The basement is extensively inscribed into the slope and contains the guest- and the Wellness/SPA-area — via ArchDaily

52 years after a Rolex watch accompanied the Trieste on its historic descent to 10,916 metres in the Mariana trench, National Geographic explorer-in-residence James Cameron, on board the Deepsea Challenger, prepares to go even deeper. This time again, a Rolex watch, the Rolex Deepsea Challenge, is part of the expedition; watch that’s rated to 12,000 metres — via Perpetuelle

Its exterior shape is more than just an affection, though at first glance it almost looks to have been formed by natural elements – waterfront wind and waves.

However, these contortions translate into a series of spaces where convex and concave moments of glass inform remarkable views back out of this Lake Tahoe retreat by Mark Dziewulski Architect — via Dornob

Here’s a first look at the latest bike from Filippo Barbacane of Officine Rossopuro. He’s best known for his classic Moto Guzzi cafe racers, so this new motorcycle, dubbed Ipothesys, is something of a departure for him. It’s a modern take on the classic café racer, built for entrepreneur Alessandro Loviselli. The heart of the machine is the grunty 1200cc eight-valve Griso motor, and the prototype has just won the first prize at the International Bike Expo in Verona — via Bike EXIF

I’ve always thought that the stock Triumph Scrambler has lots of potential for an edgier vibe. And Jim Good of Ohio was obviously thinking along the same lines when he set to work on his 2008 model bike — via Bike EXIF