Design

Harley-Davidson has a strange affectation for Italian motorcycle companies. It bought MV Agusta in 2008, and offloaded it just over a year later to the late Claudio Castiglioni. But way before that, in 1960, Harley bought a half share in Aermacchi, and started selling a rebadged version of the Italian company’s 250 cc single. It was called the Harley-Davidson Sprint, and that’s what we’re looking at here. Except this one has been customised and returned to its original Aermacchi branding by Idaho-based Union Motorcycle Classics — via Bike EXIF

I guess we would call this a period house with potential — although the price of this six-bedroom 1930s Art Deco house in Blackheath, South East London doesn’t really make it a renovation project for the majority of us.

Outside, you’ll find gardens, a garage and additional parking on the gravel drive for several cars. All of that is perhaps the reason why the agent is asking for offers around £1,650,000. With some work, who knows what it will be worth — via WowHaus

It’s awesome when a bike just comes together, when every part of your project seems like it was made to fall into place as if by some grand, cosmic plan. This is not one of those bikes.

No, The Punisher (named after the Marvel Comics anti-hero) earned its title by brutalising the man who commissioned it, Bruce Baxter, and all those involved in the making of this big-block beast. Mule Motorcycles’ Richard Pollock — the builder who somehow brought together and massaged all the special parts into the stunning package you see here — wholeheartedly agrees that this XR1660 street-tracker lived up to its namesake — via Bike EXIF

This truly serene bath tops the tropical house that Ong&Ong have just created for an active family in Singapore.

As much as possible, natural materials with thermal sink properties were chosen. Marble, stone, wood and glass are as timeless as they are energy-efficient, cooling humid Singapore nights with cross breezes.

Spaces were designed with expansive peacefulness in mind. This sublimely simple outdoor room is an example. The enclosed courtyard with forest is another — via Home Design Find

In the front courtyard, the entrance to the house, four orange trees mark the central and main axis, flanked by low walls that hide service areas. In the back courtyard, another four orange trees are similarly aligned. And at the end, carved into the ground, a trough like pond stretches from side to side. The house [Alberto Campo Baeza] is the construction of a luminous shadow — via ArchDaily

Long title, but it does the job, with apartments in the newly-developed 1930s art deco Manor Road Garage, East Preston, West Sussex now being offered. Not that they’ll look like the image above.

The Manor Road Garage and its four petrol pumps picked up grade II listing status back in 2007, but was actually given the art deco look around 1934 and continued as a working garage until 1973, before being left to die. Until now, that is.

Prices vary, but the ones online now start at £225,000, moving up to £310,000. If you fancy a quieter pace of life, this should be it — especially it that beach and scenery lives up to the photo on the agent’s site — via WowHaus

Moto undone is pure generic transportation and by motorbike category definition it isn’t very cool.

There motorbike references are small and when someone is riding they are all you see. The bike almost disappears. The rider just floats along the streets silently.

Powered by a 1000w 48v electric hub motor, moto undone has a range of 90 miles or about 3 hours. All gauges and riding information, like speed and GPS, is displayed through smart phones by downloadable apps — via J.Ruiter

Nakahouse is an abstract remodel [XTEN Architecture] of a 1960’s hillside home located on a West facing ridge in the Hollywood Hills, just below the Hollywood sign. To the South and West are views of the Beechwood Canyon; to the East is a protected natural ravine, with a view of Griffith Park Observatory in the distance — via ArchDaily

Sited on the edge of a 70-metre high cliff, the plan of Holman House [Durbach Block Jaggers] refers to Picasso’s painting The Bather. It contains a complex series of fluid living spaces set within a meandering perimeter that arcs, folds and stretches in response to sun, landscape and views. Living and dining areas cantilever out over the ocean, allowing dramatic views up and down the coast. The lower floor forms a base that is built from rough stone walls like an extension of the cliff below. These walls continue along the cliff edge to form a series of eccentric terraced gardens and a vase-shaped rock pool — via Romain Jerome TimeouT

70 miles north of Phoenix, in central Arizona lies an experimental town created by Paolo Soleri, intended to house 5,000 people. Arcosanti is the study of the concept of arcology, which combines architecture and ecology. The intentions of this community is to form a gestalt that houses the relations and interactions that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment.

One of the most imaginative thinkers of our time, Paolo Soleri has dedicated his life to addressing the ecological and social concerns raised by modern urban existence. Soleri’s career contains significant accomplishments in the fields of architecture and urban planning, and his groundbreaking philosophical writings on arcology, the co-presence of architecture with ecology, continues to garner interest globally — via ArchDaily

Looks like Victorinox didn’t to let B&R (amongst others) be the only ones digging into their own past for a new collection. Not surprisingly, they’re calling it the Classic model– via Wrist Watch Review

I have switched the slogans of the brands amongst themselves, the goal of this being to give them further meaning and to create a sort of a confusion. It is surprising how logos can influence other logos. The truth is that each pair of rivals has something in common, that something which has helped them to build one identity upon the other, this way becoming the biggest brands — via Behance Network

Pb Elemental Architecture have completed the Phinney Modern house in Seattle, Washington — via CONTEMPORIST

Okay, it’s not a haus, but it doesn’t get more wow than Brighton Pier, which is up for sale right now, should you have a few quid to spare.

Obviously there’s a downside to all of that. First you’ll need to find the money to buy it. The seller doesn’t give a price, but offers of around £30 million are said to be invited. If you want to know more, give the agents GVA Humberts Leisure a shout — via WowHaus

Tourby Watches is a small, exclusive watch manufacturer from Hagen in Westphalia, Germany. They represent all that people around the world admire about top quality German craftsmanship.

Unlike most watch manufacturers who offer you the finished item as a fait accompli and you either like it or you don’t, Tourby Watches produce bespoke timepieces that you can design and specify to your own tastes.

Tourby Watches do not keep any ready-made watches in stock. Instead each one is built to a client’s liking, and they choose their own components — via Watchuseek Watch Blog

Between science fiction fan art and historical Victorian remodelling, this turn-of-the-(20th)-century Craftsman-style home was radically remodelled into a blend of new-age fantasy and original reality.

ModVic is a restoration-and-redesign business that started with a leaky roof and ended in entrepreneurship as Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum discovered a love for fixing and enhancing period pieces, starting with their own house — via Dornob

The architect for this green housing is the playful and green-minded Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), which has just completed a ski slope-cum-municipal-incineration project for the city of Copenhagen — by making it into an unlikely combination of green energy and alpine sport, and recently we covered BIG’s imaginative new gallery space for Greenland.

The brief here was to create 1/3 housing atop 2/3 parking space. The result is this sweet idea of creating a mountain out of the gigantic parking space and then planting green cubes on the mountain’s slopes. — via Home Design Find

Chappell Customs‘ most recent build, a 1982 Yamaha XS650, started out as a rolling chassis with two different wheels and a pile of parts. The frame and engine were retained; everything else was taken off and replaced or rebuilt, says Chris. Rattle can paint was stripped back to bare metal, cylinders were honed, and new rings, seals, gaskets and filters fitted. The front end was rebuilt with progressive springs, and a new rear frame hoop was welded in — via Bike EXIF

This is one of the more unusual motorcycles that appeared in the recent AMD Championship. Unusual because it’s perfectly rideable, and also because it was the first time a sidecar outfit has competed in Sturgis. ‘Union’ was built by Abnormal Cycles of Italy, a workshop that has come a long way since we featured its BMW café racer over a year ago. The Bernareggio-based company created an Art Deco-inspired sidecar—complete with wood trim—and hooked it up to a 1942 Harley-Davidson Model U. The leaf spring fork is inspired by an Indian design—beefed up to cope with the extra weight—while fellow Italians Kustom Tech built the three chrome-and-brass drum brakes. The wheels are JoNich 18-inchers and the tires are from CEAT, two brands that are new names to me, but look pretty good. There’s something reminiscent of Flash Gordon about this machine: like the movie, it somehow hangs together, when logic says it shouldn’t — via Bike EXIF