Iconic House: Il Girasole

Irwin Weiner ASID - Let's celebrate all the innovation that has gone into residential architecture! It's astounding how, back in the 1930s, architects Angelo Invernizzi and Ettore Fagiuoli created a house with a mechanism that kept the house moving so that it always faced the sun. Called Il Girasole, The Sunflower, it functions beautifully and takes advantage of breathtaking natural views outside of Verona. While not all historic homes around the world are available for public tours, it's often possible to contact local museums to see if there are institutional tours of these homes and soak up the essence of beautiful design. This award-winning video is a good tour substitute.

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Modern Victorian

Benjamin Stanley Freeman House; photo by Boston.com

Irwin Weiner ASID - Victorian furniture and architecture is quirky and fun. I love to collect random pieces and sprinkle them into my overall decor and tabletop. The quality that jumps out at me with Victoriana is the handmade, handcrafted quality of the pieces. Some pieces are so bizarre, they make me wonder who made them. Sadly, many modern pieces put me to sleep and I never wonder which machine turned out one piece after another. The Steampunk movement - or we've been hearing it called Modern Victorian lately! - imagines what life would have been like if the Information revolution had occurred 100 years earlier. It would have been a world where Jules Verne novels come to life. This video show you what we love about Modern Victoriana. For those interested in attending a convention, there's a ModVic "Back Home to the Future" Exposition on March 5 and 6, 2011 at the Philadelphia Expo Center. Visit the ModVic website for more information.

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Update on December 28, 2010 by Design2Share

Rolf's German Restaurant - Winter Wonderland

Venetian Gallery Renovation

Seldom have we seen a video that is both artistic and informational concerning the renovation and reconstruction of a building, and you're in for a treat. The site is a project by noted Japanese architect Tadao Ando, restoring Punta della Dogana in Venice, Italy. The video is time lapses of work captured from January 2008 through March 2009. Some project stats:

• 120 workers on average
• Contractor: Dottor Group
• Total of 300,000 project hours
• Site logistics and materials transported by water - 80% of the building's walls bordered the Venice Lagoon
• A temporary port was set up with barges
• Over 2,000 trips from shore carried over 10,000 tons of various building materials