External Brain

The residence in Küsnacht near Zurich is a late work of the Swiss architect Theodor Laubi, built in 1956 on a plot of land with an ample garden and flanked by a forest. After several changes of owners and their corresponding conversions and extensions the house had lost its original modernistic character.

In 2005 the residence was fortunately taken over by new owners (a young couple – a gallery owner and an artist) who recognised the potential of the house. The opening of a gallery for contemporary art in the ground floor not only revitalised the house but also transformed it into a partial, semi-public building that profited the whole surrounding residential area — via ArchDaily

In the holiday spirit of not taking things too seriously, here’s a curve ball to throw into the Bike EXIF mix. A lot of strange contraptions come my way, but this Rotax-engined number is one of the most extreme motorcycles I’ve seen for a while. It’s built by Jim Davis of MotoMorphic—based in San Rafael, California—and costs $100,000 or more, according to specification — via Bike EXIF

Located at one of the principal gateways to the Australian National University’s campus this new building brings together three previously separate schools specialising in international relations and comparative politics into a new purpose designed facility — via ArchDaily

In terms of an architectural proposition, the BR House located in the countryside could not be more intriguing: situated within the dense and impressive Rain Forest, circumscribing and penetrating the area, dominates all senses. The circumstances, from the inception, forces fundamental questions for architecture: how can architecture present itself and, if making itself present, how can it deliberately show itself as construction? A chalet or any other mimicry of puristic architecture, comfortably absorbed by the landscape, is a banal dissembling response; a denial of the confrontation which would deprive the traces of the radicalness and vigor arising from this contrast — via ArchDaily

The Swiss watchmaker has recently presented a new member of the Classic 1931 collection — the Louis Erard 1931 Chronometer chronograph watch (Ref. 79 220 OR 22) in rose gold.

Presented in an elegant round case, which is crafted of 18-carat rose gold, the watch is powered by the ubiquitous ETA Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph — via World Watch Review

In past 60 years, as information technology progressively changed, in Japan, our housing industry has rapidly adjusted to it. This forced adjustment to our society has caused a transformation of our traditional lifestyle, and housing space has been often talked by nLDK; n (number of private rooms) L (living) D (dining) K (kitchen). The concept of nLDK is to describe how much value your house has. The spatial flexibility and relationship (private and public) among n, L, D, and K are separated and lost, and as a result, function started to walk alone.

Our proposal to these two houses, WITH and BEAT are to try to re-consider and re-organize a quality of relationship of nLDK to re-adjust to a current and a future lifestyle — via ArchDaily

The renowned Swiss watchmaker has updated its Angular Momentum Montre a Guichet Guilloche line with a model in titanium.

As the original model, this feather-light version is presented in a 39.5 mm case, which is now made of titanium.

Angular Momentum Montre a Guichet Guilloche hand-wound watch in Titanium (gold medallion)

Instead of a usual sapphire crystal, the watch is equipped with a 925 sterling silver Medallion a Guichet cover with a psychedelic Guilloche Soleil Inca a la Main finishing.

Since the sterling silver is an alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% of other metals, the medallion is available in four colors of gold, silver, Rhodium and even purple Ruthenium — via World Watch Review