Mantova Architecture

The value of travel abroad is that it opens us up to new ideas in architecture and design - even if what we're experiencing is hundreds of years old. Appreciating the old is part of learning to look at details, and those details will positively influence your home design and decorating. The rich history of Italy is exemplified in the various building styles we found in Mantova (Mantua), Italy, and we shot a video to show you some of our favorite architecture. The charm of the city itself is not to be believed. We sat in deserted squares, saw no tourists, and enjoyed fine food and inspiring sites. The Palazzo Te is richly decorated inside with jaw-droppingly cool paintings, many erotic and far ahead of the times (we wish we could have filmed inside, but an outside view was all we could get permission to film). 

Off the Dubai Coast

The Dubai architectural scene exploded like a red-hot rocket a few years ago, and only the global economic meltdown has brought it back to a bit more sanity. Yet the housing and building fever continues still as witnessed by the ambitious, yet very-Dubai-like scale of The World, a series of offshore islands that can be privately colonized for private get-aways, resorts, high-density housing, retail, and other imaginative uses. Isla Moda is an entire fashion-oriented enclave being planned within The World complex, with the world's fashion designers (like Karl Lagerfeld, pictured below) designing elements of this development. 

Divine Building Details

We don't like the saying "The devil is in the details." When it comes to interior design and house planning, we prefer to say "angels are in the details" because heavenly details in your overall design can make your home projects timeless. Our resident interior designer Irwin Weiner ASID went to Milan during fashion week and we shot him with some of his favorite details. He found this entry hall and uses it to make his point that whether you're creating the architecture for your home, the building details for a room, or the furnishings and home goods that bring a space to life, it's going to be those special details that add up to give the most impact.

Bloom Living Module

 

Ekaterinburg, Russia designer Olga Kalugina believes that there is a better way to design a home. Her Bloom Living Module is a futuristic, clean, product-design-driven way to meet our housing needs. Solar-powered, sleek, and beautifully designed, Bloom is a mobile concept that some think can benefit disaster victims; its fast portability makes it appealing as a way to set up an instant community. We think it's important to keep pushing the home design envelope. It's certainly a breath of fresh air and makes us entirely forget the McMansion.