Museum Sant Pere de Roda, Gernoa Spain

Char;es Rennie Mackingtosh - his home

Canova Sculputre Gallery, Passagno, Italy

University Library, Eichstatt, Germany

Irish Film Centre, former Quaker meeting house, Dublin

Theme Park - park lodges, The Netherlands

Hodge Velluewe Park is far from a stranger to architectural wonders. The Kroller-Muller Museum and Sint Hubertus Castle are just two of the attractions in the park and so when asked to design three porters lodges at the main entrance, Dutch firm MVRDV had somewhat of a challenge.

Seeking to be representational of both the man-made wonders and the natural surroundings in the park, the designers carefully utilized materials such as yes, red cedar (the wooded environment) brick and concrete (to reflect the park's existing buildings) and Cor-Ten Steel (apparently as reference to the modern art in the Kroller-Mullers collection). Whilst obviously disappointed not to have seen any copper cladding anywhere, I soon forgot as the fab thing about these little wonders is their ability to simply stop being a kiosk (lodge, whatever). They shut up shop! As simple as the old fashioned Wendy houses, shut the flaps (although am sure the architects would rather call them something more technical) and they turn into sculptural objects sitting happily within the park. I hope these little lodges sell tickets and little else, it would be so sad to find out they supply over weight park goers with deep fried nasties and slush puppies.

Shedding Light: Oslo Norway

Designer Carl-Viggo Holmebakk had a simple enough brief, a garden shed-workshop for his parents garden in Oslo, however the very real practical considerations of densely wooded garden, mature pine trees and a need for considerable storage as well as utility space and hey presto, he comes up with this - a 6.5m tall brick cylindrical structure. Perfect.

The interlocking brick wall acts as a standalone shell to the building, the interior three-story stair and shelving structure is supported independently by the roof frame. The tooth-bricked door frame is seemingly woven into this outer skin of the shed so the cylinder is not compromised in anyway. I love the interior, it twists around its three floors like a screwpull bottle opener, each level interconnecting with the galvanised steel stair case. Unlike many towers however this one is bathed in light, it pours in from the transparent roof, leaking round the gaps between the buildings skin and the stairwell and sneaking in around the doors. The only thing I feel lets this build down is the somewhat temporary feel of the transparent roof. Brilliant idea yes, but it sits rather awkwardly, a bit of a makeshift whilst the real, perfectly fitting dome, or similar is busy being made off site - I don't know perhaps he ran out of budget. Its only a shed after all....

hot house, Sauna Pavilion, Massachusetts USA

Another fabulous book in the XS range 'big ideas, small buildings' by Phyllis Richardson here are a couple of my favourites, the idea that great things come in small packages so applies...

'Hot house' nestles so happily amongst the trees in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts that even Davy Crockett could assume it is just another traditional log cabin, familiar to the area for centuries. However, whilst compact, this little building has far greater architectural aspirations. Designers Sal Tranchina and Chris Kilbridge of Artifact Design + Construction have combined copper cladding, cedar plank, green slate and quadruple glazed windows to create a building refreshingly refined, but deeply alluring. Hot house features a 2.4m sq sauna chamber, dressing area, outdoor shower and a cedar clad walkway (more walk the plank) cum-diving board inviting sweltering sauna users to refresh themselves in the neighbouring lake. I didn't notice until now that I am developing a bit of a thing for copper cladding, perhaps its the season for all things warm and autumnal, however I really feel that part of the genius of this design is the use of materials. Both copper and cedar will age and weather naturally, becoming more intrinsic to the surrounding scenery as the days pass. The reflective nature of the copper and the glass conj ours up ideas of mutual beauty, adoration and reflection.

Piet Hein Eek - his study floor has become a family hobby and working area

The Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek began making furniture from reclaimed scrap wood in 1990. “It was my reaction to the prevalent craving for perfection,” says Eek. “I wanted to show that products that are not highly polished can still appeal to our sense of beauty and functionality. I wanted to design things that could be made from simple materials, materials readily available. Everyone is trying to make perfect furniture, so I made furniture that is imperfect. I like using materials that are worthless and acting as though they are precious.”

For Piet Hein Eek the only thing thats important is people. He feels a house is well designed if it combines with the owner rather than the decorator. "My own house...is a functional family house. Every corner is well thought out and slowly it's filled up with special things that i've designed. I like the things that have a story; the things we found, the things we bought for very little mone when we were young. I lik it not being perfect and I don't think we'll ever get to the end."

one-handed breakfast

Trying to think about design from a different perspective.... jars, bananas, general mess.

Fergus Henderson: Chef - Founder of St John Resturants Clerkenwell & Spitalfields

Henderson recalls one of his most telling childhood memories being coming downstairs to the debris of dinner the night before;

"a delicious smell of old cigar smoke and undrunk wine and coffee.....sensing that something good had been going on and I had been missing out."

"My mum cooked very well and my dad was a big eater and we travelled and ate very well in restaurants. They were a big feature in our lives. The theory is that our family was held together so well and for so long by a white tablecloth. It acted as a sort of bonding unit and it's always brought us back together again."

Although he vowed not to follow his father (architect Brian Henderson) footsteps, Fergus did study architecture. While he was studying he took over the running of a restaurant in Covent Garden on Sunday. Along with a couple of close friends, they cooked cassoulet or pot-au-feu for 200, still thinking that he was still destined to become an architect. By the time he and his new wife opened The French House, Soho, his career path was set. However he always sees a new restaurant, partly through the eyes of an architect and partly through the eyes of a chef. Henderson has some strong views on restaurant 'over design'. He feels that the the decoration should be the people eating, drinking and having a good time.

"I also had this theory that you could do recipes for buildings, because I felt that there was a danger that when you have a two-dimensional drawing and it turns into three dimensions, it seems to lack some magic. So I had this idea that somehow the magic that happens in a kitchen could be applied to a building. It worked in theory. I was a student and it was fun."

HOME by Stafford Cliff

I LOVE this book! Found by chance on one of my library browsing (research) afternoons - it is a glorious sneak peak inside the homes of a collection of designers, artists, actors and creative types. Beautifully set out, the book leads you seamlessly, addictivley, from page to page. Highly individual text is patch-worked with a glorious photographs of particular spaces in their home. Personality oozes out over every page. I am going to post a few of these as I don't plan on returning this book for a little while yet (unless you really want to have a look...)


"That people could come into the world in a place they could not at first even name and had never known before; and that out of a nameless and unknown place they could grow and move around in it until its name they knew and called with love, and call it HOME, and put roots there and love others there; so that whenever they left this place they would sing homesick songs about it and write poems of yearning for it, like a lover;...."[William Goyen, HOUSE OF BREATH]


Stafford Cliff: London based design consultant and art director. Has worked with Conran, producing over 60 books on aspects of design and the home.

Nature's storage

I am exploring the ideas of space, how things fit together, how design can improve space and storage solutions. How we 'use' and 'waste' space. Space now being such an unafordable premium, almost a luxury comodity. Some of my inspiration comes from the idea of natural storage - animal habitats and natural shelters. I picked this up walking my dog this morning - I love the way nature has so many wonderful designs... the spanish chestnuts are protected until they are fully ripe then the spikey shell cracks open, and the squirells take over. Just beautiful to look at as well.

Organic Architecture

Long before 'organic' became the new black, American arcitecht Frank Lloyd Wright was advocating what has come to be known as Organic Arhitecture. Lloyd Wright used 'organic' to describe his ideal concept of a home. Each element of a building was integral to the whole. At Taliesen (Wisconsion) he designed everything from the buidling itself to the furnishings and the grounds.

Have a look at the Taliesen today www.taliesinpreservation.org