In the raised position, you can walk on the same surface radiantly warmed from beneath. And of course, having the swimming pool convert itself  into a floor makes it child-friendly too: this is not a pool that a child can fall into.

Once it is sunken it looks like any other indoor pool – as permanent as you could possibly want.

You could design this so that it remains as just a shallow decorative pool when not in use, one that is only an inch or two deep.

But the best thing about this idea is that it would also make keeping the pool warm a cinch. The exposed surface of pools give off heat at a great rate and take a lot of energy to reheat. But this one is only exposed to heat evaporation when you swim in it. This could make this extremely glamorous design also a very climate-friendly one as well. That’s because the energy expended to keep pools toasty make your swimming pool the worst carbon hog: worse even than you driving that SUV.

But of course that would depend on how much  energy is expended to raise and lower the floor. Perhaps that can be engineered to be a clever energy efficient design… or perhaps not. It is designed in Belgium if you want to ask and see, or make a suggestion on how that could be achieved.

Source: Hydrofloors

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Climate-Friendly Sunken Pool Converts into Radiant Floor

To our mind, timelessness is design that allows an owner’s personality to shine through unobscured by momentary trends. It does not mean that a home must be filled with antiques. It also does not mean that a home must be safely conventional.

So here are a few thoughts on making your home timeless but not boring:

1) Accept that you are a product of your age. You live in the real world. That means you will be influenced by the trends, colors, and design ideas that you see around you, and that’s okay. After all, timelessness is a moving target. What is considered timeless today might not in 10, 15 or 20 years time. So if you come upon a trend that you really like, embrace it. That’s part of the fun. Just figure out how to translate that trend into your own home in a new and original way. Below, the mid-century arc lamp and low-slung leather couch are of the moment. But an oriental rug, antique chest and framed photographs and art prints help give this interior a timeless appeal. Funky graphic pillows are more trendy and “now” but can be switched around at a moment’s notice.

2) Context is everything. The reason that some environments look kind of silly is that they are totally wrong for the context. For example, if you live in a low-ceilinged 50’s style apartment complex in West Los Angeles, decorating your space as if it were a 17th century French chateau is just not going to work. Instead pick up cues about your home’s design decor from the surroundings themselves. Don’t deny, be inspired! Incorporate a few elements reminscent of the French chateau, but don’t go whole hog, and respect the environment you’re working with. Would the daring dark walls in the interior below work as well in an interior without the high ceilings and architectural details? Probably not. At the same time, a low-slung modernist couch works perfectly well in this townhouse outside London.

3) Embrace constraints. Not having enough money or space isn’t a bad thing. It’s an opportunity! Constraints help us to think outside the box, so instead of buying everything at once in the same style we are forced to live with things  and collect slowly over time. Over time, our tastes will change and styles will change. Our interiors will develop that layered look that makes them more interesting and… well, timeless. We also get a better handle on what we actually need and what we can live without.

4. Simple withstands the test of time. Shaker style furniture, for example, is clean and simple, thus effortlessly fitting into  all types of decor. Think simplicity in line and concept, and you can’t go wrong.

5) Rely on what you like. One reason rooms feel trendy is because there’s no sign of individual personality. So individualize your home by choosing furniture and accessories chiefly by what you like and not “what goes together.”  Trust that you can find a way to integrate what you like into a cohesive design. Below, homeowners were able to integrate their love of fun, happy colors to beautiful effect. Nothing seems particularly trendy, aside perhaps from the popular pendant lamp over the dining room table.

Images: via Aphrochic.com, via Designspongeonline.com, viaApartmentTherapy.com

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Design Dilemma: Timeless vs. Trendy

The construction company; Wright-Ryan Construction had been  getting a lot of inquiries about sustainable building from  local people in Maine, and wanted to teach its staff hands-on about sustainable building by building the spec home as a learning experience.

But the benefits spread to more people than anticipated:

Wright-Ryan’s subcontractors and suppliers also wound up being challenged by a first-hand look at sustainable home building in action – and changed the way their own businesses ran things.

The first different step was to leave the site as undisturbed as practicable. Wright-Ryan cleared only enough land for construction access and to ensure good solar exposure for the roof-mounted PV array and solar hot-water system. Native grasses and ferns were used to fill in the disturbed area around the house once finished. For permanent access, Wright-Ryan put in a simple gravel driveway – the least intrusive option.

Triple-glazed windows keep the winters toasty warm, in conjunction with the solar hot water heating from the roof that feeds sun-warmed water  into the radiant flooring system under the floors.

The house garnered LEED ratings for its use of eco conscious materials like these locally harvested Dakota Burl cabinet faces in the kitchen cabinets, infilled with ground-up agricultural waste. The lumber and trim materials were FSC certified. The ceramic-tile flooring contains recycled glass, low-VOC finishes and caulks, and a mechanical ventilation system.

The passive solar effects of the shades over the south facing windows keep the summer sun out, but the lower-in-the-sky winter sun in to warm the interior.

But for true zero carbon design, the house also makes electricity on the roof, with a 2-kW, grid-tied solar PV system. A solar hot water heater, comprising three 30 tube evacuated-tube solar collectors on the other side makes hot water for the house and for the radiant flooring.

The combination of the landfill-friendly metal roof with its solar arrays, and  the more traditional style underneath turns out to be quite charming.

Source: GreenbuildingAdvisor

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Spec House in Maine Gets LEED – Teaches Zero Carbon Design

A very nature-based use of passive cooling is achieved by breezes driven across different surfaces that naturally create different temperatures in the same way that nature does…

…just like the way that land and sea breezes are generated by different temperatures over cool water and then moving over air heated by the warmth given off by rocks and land, or in this case, by concrete and then wood. Because of their different latent heat retention, all these materials have heat gain or loss, making the air temperature different above them.

In nature, that’s what creates windy areas. The many courtyards also help generate breezes the way that nature does.

Throughout – all of the hardwood louvers  can be adjusted by hand to decrease or increase the breezes and sunlight being filtered through.

To create the maximum of privacy and spaciousness, the architect used the traditional courtyard approach. The house itself skirts the perimeter of the property, with a central wing skirted by a strip of lawn on one side, and a strip of water on the other.

It seems larger than it is because the space in the central wing is see-through, with an uninterrupted 120 foot view across the entire compound.

Images: Wallflower Architecture
Via Cubeme

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Architecture That Mimics Nature to Create a Breezy Micro-Climate

Kitchen appliances may look really jaw-dropping, just like these amazing Pando Evolution Line’s creations. The modern kitchen hood series not only provide powerful aspiration, but also serves as a decorative piece that instantly turns your regular kitchen into a designer kitchen. To suit your needs best, Pando offer customized exhaused hood designs with different sizes, finishes, motors and optional remote controls. You wouldn’t mind such a play of light, shade and shine in your kitchen, would you?

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Designer Kitchen Hoods by Pando Evolution Line

The entire front is open to the sea. Sea breezes forming cross breezes throughout the design mean the need for air conditioning is reduced. The use of wood throughout is more sustainable than carpet.

There is a tiny central Zen garden featuring grasses that soften the harsh lines of the courtyard, elegantly, with understated simplicity.

Huge timbers form stair treads inside. Generous chunks of natural materials give a sense of lavishness, which ensures that the tiny footprint doesn’t feel cramped.

The small deck is designed to maximize the sea breezes.

A very unique “stone” floor reminds us that stone is – just that: stones. Chopped-up rocks. More energy efficient than chopping up rocks to make a stone floor, so why not just use stones? It must feel good to walk on these gently rounded stones in bare feet, making that connection to the beach outside.

Only a small, simple house is needed to indulge in the simple pleasure of the huge and infinite-seeming sea.

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(Relatively) Small is Beautiful

Have you ever noticed that those fabulously chic and modern interiors in shelter magazines never seem to include the framed family photos that most of us collect as treasured personal mementos?  How come?

Here’s one guess: while photos of family and friends may mean an awful lot to us, they’re also not exactly “design-friendly.”  That is, dozens of colored snapshots have a tendency to make a space feel cluttered and busy. And as we all know by now, clutter is anathema to modern design. So how can you resolve this problem if you love modern design but don’t want your home to feel impersonally stripped of all personal meaning?

1) Create a wall installation of your photos by grouping them together.
Deliberately plan an arrangement of your photos rather than allowing them to collect haphazardly. In the photo below, simple polaroid snapshots are deliberately arranged together over a mantle to function something like an installation piece. The same concept applies to the second photo, where one wall has been given over to framed photographs.

2) When framing photos, seek to keep the frames of the same type. Above, the wall appears unified because each photo uses a black frame. Below, the same concept applies, but this time, red frames add graphic punch.

3) Consider going black and white. There’s something very classy about black and white. And black and white photos never fight with each other, contributing to that busy feeling that colored photographs can give. So go the artsy route and try converting your color photos into black and white for an instant modern feeling.  In the photo above, black and white photos look chic with a punchy red frame.

4) Blow them up. Got a cool snapshot that is just a gorgeous photograph? Try blowing it up and pairing it with a couple of others to create a unique art installation. Below, although the black and white photos shown are actually of news events, there’s no reason why the same concept couldn’t work for personal photos.

5) Don’t be afraid to edit your photo collection. You can’t display every photo that enters your life. So pick and choose. Move stuff around. Replace stuff. Keep your photo collection feeling vibrant and alive — just like your home!

Images: 1,3, Verne via owi.bz, 5, De Baerdemaeker Kat, 2,4 via Design-Crisis.com

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Design Dilemma: Managing Family Photographs

The radiant heating system, using circulating hot water, normally used only in flooring, is also even incorporated into some of these exterior walls.

The builder installed an air system that completely changes the air in the property once every two hours – replacing the stale damp air with fresh, warmed, dry, filtered air. A heat exchange system uses the hot air going out to help pre-warm the fresh air that is brought in.

Heat recovery ventilators change and filter the air every two hours. On some of the the roofs, solar tiles provide the electricity, and a rainwater harvesting system reduces water use.

Twenty solar hot water panels feed hot water into an in-ground heat storage system for year-round energy supply and help the sun warm the pool through these huge South-facing windows.

Water itself behaves like a thermal sink. By putting the indoor pool inside huge windows that soak up the sun, the pool itself becomes a part of the warming system for the entire 21st century eco-castle. Mmmmm… I love it!

Source: Barnsley Hill Farm
More HomeDesignFind from Susan Kraemer: Journalists on Twitter

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Swimming Pool Acts as Thermal Storage in 17th Century Eco-Retrofit

When the weather gets cold, there is nothing better to warm you up than a fireplace. We  used to think about fireplaces as something big and not suitable for the needs of a small home. The Tulip fireplace by Biofireplace proves us wrong – it is as big as a regular heater. You may have noticed – there is no chimney; because it doesn’t need one – the contemporary fireplace uses bioethanol that burns clean, smoke and ash-free. Its sleek design, made by Matteo Ragni, makes it a centerpiece of any room and a great addition to any modern home.

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Tulip fireplace by Biofireplace: stylish and spacesaving

Method Homes has a down-to-earth, contemporary design sensibility that informs their straightforward prefab homes.

Each uses locally grown and produced building materials such as certified Douglas fir framing material and reclaimed fir trim and cedar siding on the outside. Because the sample home here is built in a flood plain, it is set on an unusually tall foundation, with a through way for flood water between the two sections of the house…

…and abundant solar-friendly space on the generous cantilevered roof area provides the option for solar electricity to power the home’s lighting and electricity needs.

The Glacier home features bamboo and cork floors, energy-efficient lighting and plumbing fixtures, hydronic radiant heating, whole-house ventilation systems, solar options and enhanced insulation applications.

Principal Architect Tom Lenchek says: “We design for sustainability and energy efficiency, balancing the desire for an architecturally sophisticated home.”

And by building indoors, in a factory, in the rain-drenched Pacific Northwest, they not only guarantee regular work weeks for construction crews – because it never rains indoors…

…but they also cut down on trips made to the site by delivery vehicles and subcontractors, thus minimizing the damage to roads from months of heavy vehicles going back and forth.

They hope to prefab their homes starting at $148,000 for about 900 sq ft. This first sample is for sale at just over $500,000 – on this site.

Source: Method Blog

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“Glacier” Prefab House by Method Homes