Report from NYC: Open House NY

I have a sneaky habit of peering into people's apartment windows as I walk past. Maybe it's because, growing up in South Africa, homes were surrounded by high security walls, but mainly, I'm fascinated with how people decorate their homes. This weekend I got to indulge my voyeuristic side at Open House New York, an annual programme that opens off-limits sites of cultural and historical interest to the public.

On the programme, New Yorkers could see the inner workings of Subway Substation No. 22 in Brooklyn, we could tour the underground cheese caves of Murray's Cheese in the Village and see how a penthouse in NoHo creates a seamless flow between interior space and roof garden.

Except that I couldn't see any of those. The substation and cheese cave tours filled up on the first day that reservations were available, and the penthouse was closed "due to mechanical failure." A tour of the Metal Shutter Houses with architect Dean Maltz sounded interesting, but when we got there the only things to see were an architectural model and a big hole in the ground!

I must have had bad luck this year because there's ample evidence of some very interesting places on view at the OHNY Flickr pool, all entries in the programme's photo competition. These are some of my favourites.

The New School's Tishman Auditorium posted by Manuela Martin.

Mosaics in the hallwayof the Masonic Grand Lodge posted by Uptick.

Fort Totten posted by Elisa Peimer.

New York Marble Cemetery in the East Village posted by Edenpictures.

Storefront for Art and Architecture posted by Manuela Martin.

Cathedral of the Holy Virgin Protection posted by edenpictures.

Stairwell in NYU Philosophy Department posted by Manuela Martin.

High Bridge Water Tower, posted by Jesse Chan-Norris.

I did take a very lovely tour of the High Line, an elevated railroad running on the West Side of Manhattan that is no longer in use. We weren't allowed to publish our photos because the section we toured overlooked the Metropolitan Transit Authority's rail yards, itself slated for radical redevelopment. But this is what it looks like on the Friends of the High Line website.

The bottom section of the High Line is being transformed into an inspired-looking series of parks designed by Piet Oudolf. We toured the northern section, still in its overgrown nature-overtakes-city state, which was enchanting. We walked along the crumbling wooden planks through waist-high shrubs and drifts of long, soft grasses. I found myself wishing they could just lay a glass floor over the track to preserve it as is.

The other site that did not disappoint was the Row House Revival in Park Slope, Brooklyn, designed by Coburn Architecture. This elegant home was built in the late 1800s and expanded into the adjacent lot when it was renovated over the past few years.

Decorated in what architect Ward Welch described as a "Federal hip" style, the home is elegant, plush and welcoming. I admired the designers Erin Fearins and Catherine Brophy's restrained colour palette and subtle shifts in texture.

The bedroom in particular was a sanctum of calm, which is just the kind of hideaway I'd like after my day touring New York City's hidden treasures.

Report from NYC: The Museum of Arts and Design

I'm planning to go MAD this weekend. MAD is the Museum of Arts and Design, which is opening at its spiffy new location at 2 Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan with a weekend of free events. And in this city of $20 museum entrance fees, that's a big pull.

Photo courtesy David Heald on MAD Web site

I've been watching the building taking shape for a while now. You can see a video of the (much-abbreviated) process here. With its gently curved facade looking out on busy Columbus Circle, the building is situated at a major node of human activity. The mirrored towers of the Time Warner Center rise nearby, and Central Park beckons just across the street.

The architecture critics are having their say about the new building, with some detractors and some big fans. The New York Times has a wonderfully entertaining and informative multi-media feature about the building's transformation from Edward Durell Stone’s Gallery of Modern Art, which was built in 1964 to house Huntington Hartford’s art collection. "The galleries weren't elegant, they were snazzy - walnut panels, parquet floors, bronze fixtures and crimson carpeting," says the Times narrator about the old gallery space. Love that description, but my favourite part is where the narrator cites architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable's description of the old building as "a factory-made Venetian palazzo on lollipops!"

Personally, I love the way Allied Works Architecture, led by Brad Cloepfil, took a bulky oddity of a building and turned it into a shimmering, elegant edifice. Pearlescent ceramic tiles cover the exterior, taking on different sheens as the light changes.

The excisions into the exterior allow light to flood into the galleries and apparently the transparent glass bands traverse the building internally as well.

It's a building within a building. The architects removed the marble cladding of the old building (bottom left picture, below), but they kept the famous "lollipop" arcades on the ground floor as a reference to the building's past, which are only visible from the interior (above left picture).

Photos clockwise from top left: Hannah Whitaker (2); Ed Bailey/AP from the New York Web site

I can't wait to experience the building from the inside. More about that at a later date.

Casa Alvara Rojo

Home of all things amazingly designy, DesignBoom has a special section dedicated to all tht tiny houses that they discover! I found one that I'd like to pop into my handbag:

This little steel-clad wooden house in Chile isn't very big at all, having a floor area of only 65.2 square metres...


But some clever use of a sloping roof makes it bigger than it looks. Casa Alvara Rojo was built by Chilean architectural firm, Daniel Rojo.

Go find your own favourite Tiny House at DesignBoom, but remember they'll be checking your pockets at the exit!

Good Heavens

Going to church can be a spiritual gift as well as a visual one. These are some examples of exquisitely designed churches and chapels around the world.



The Leaf chapel, designed by Klein Dytham architecture, sits within the grounds of the Risonare hotel resort in Kobuchizawa, a refreshingly green setting with beautiful views to the southern Japanese Alps, Yatsugatuke peaks and Mt.Fuji.
I love how the white steel leaf, perforated with 4700 holes, each of which hold an acrylic lens, is similar to a bride's veil made of delicate lace. Light filters through the lenses and projects a lace pattern onto the white fabric inside.




The interior of St. Bartholomew's church was redesigned by Czech designer
Maxim Velcovsky. It is situated in the village of Chodovice, Eastern Bohemia.
The combination of modern design with old tradition is what makes this space successful and proves that design can be an integral part of religion.




Located in Finland in the Ostrobothnia region, this Scandanavian church was designed by JKMM Architects after winning a national competition . I love the light-filled open areas and organic loyalty created by using various choices of wood and playing with space.



Some call it controversial



Utrecht based architecture studio, ZECC transformed an old chapel into a beautiful open living space. Some call it controversial, but I think that the building rather reflects modern day respect and gratitude to old-age traditions and culture.




Amsterdam based architects, Merkx and Girod designed this spectacular bookshop in the space of an old church. Challenges were presented when trying to keep the original spirit and culture of the church as well as cater to the commercial market. The end result however, is flawlessly magnificant.