External Brain

Located in Bainbridge Island, Washington much of the Dorsey Residence is hidden behind a two-story concrete face, however its interior spaces reflect a different experience of warmth, light, and openness. Architects Coates Design created an 18-inch concrete wall that forms two sides of the home’s exterior. These walls provide a poignant counterpoint to the warm wooden and copper box that rests at a slight angle to take full advantage of the site’s water and mountain views. The concrete exterior wall and exposed concrete within the home reduce energy costs by serving as a thermal mass that naturally cools the home in the summer and holds warmth in the winter — via ArchDaily

Hughes Umbanhowar Architects have designed the River Road house in Sewall’s Point, Florida.

When morning breaks in the small residential community of Sewall’s Point, the house is cloaked in light that is reflected and refracted from the faceted Mahogany framed windows of this regal residence. Home for a young family, the structure is reverent in its embrace of the outdoors, both the two-acre waterfront lot it occupies and the landscape beyond. Ensconced in the hillside which overlooks the water, the structure is a series of expansive and intimate courtyards and cantilevered decks, which architectonically echo the diaphanous volumes of the interior, spaces which seem to defy gravity, even while embracing the solidity of Italian limestone and stucco facades. Views to the southwest encompass the dynamic activity of the marina in an inland waterway and track the movements of sun, wind and water — via CONTEMPORIST

If kids could design and build whole homes, what would they look like? This so-called Rainbow House is filled with secret doors, slides that bridge between floors and multi-colored spiral staircases to wind you back up. Chutes and ladders, anyone?

Dubbed a “magical oasis’ by its creators (AB Rogers and DA Studio, the busy and noisy road next to the building is matched by equally rambunctious and interactive interior decor. Stepping in off the street is a lot like walking into a fantasy looking glass or wardrobe portal — via Dornob

Wall art meets weighted wind-up clock in this clever wooden fan design that requires no electrical power to run. Of course, winding it up every few minutes is not ideal for full-room cooling, but does add a bit of a breeze when one enters the room (and works as decor when not in use).

Luc von Hoeckel is a dutch designer who enjoys simple objects executed with elemental craft techniques. An elegant system of visible weights, pulleys and gears makes this a great example of what-you-see-is-what-you-get woodworking — via Dornob

The contribution of the skylight was privileged to bring natural light to the ground floor, despite the large width of the house (15 meters).

Sunlight enters the house through several roof windows. The transparent surface of slab of glass allows light penetration to the ground floor and helps animating the central space through the day — via ArchDaily

The modern Longines Twenty-Four Hours is fitted with caliber L704.2, a self-winding movement with hands that make one full circle of the dial in 24 hours. The stainless steel case has a diameter of 47.5mm; the dial is matte black with 24 white Arabic numerals coated with Super-Luminova and has a railway-track minute circle. The hands coated with Super-Luminova, and the watch has a center seconds hand, like the original model — via WatchTime

This week marked the grand opening for the Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida. The new building‘s 68,000 sqf doubles the size of the original one storey warehouse Dali Museum built in 1982.

Utilizing free-form geodesic geometry, the triangulated glass organically flows around and attaches to the rigid unfinished concrete box, a play of hard and soft, protecting Dali’s paintings and simultaneously providing natural daylight and openness to the adjacent bay. This is the first use of this type of free-form geodesic geometry in the United States — via ArchDaily

As always, the new De Bethune DB28 automatic watch comes equipped with their trademark three dimensional moon-phase indicator made of platinum and blued steel.

The watch is equipped with the Calibre DB 2115 hand-wound movement with its hand-decorated mainplate serving as the timepiece’s dial
— via World Watch Review