Passive House Designer

We are happy to announce that Stefanie Werner of DAS Studio received the Certification as a Passive House Designer. Passive Houses require only 10- 20% of the energy a conventional building requires and provide a healthier living environments. We are looking forward moving towards sustainable  planet.

For more information on Passive Houses and why they are so great see:

http://www.passipedia.org/passipedia_en/basics/what_is_a_passive_house

Or contact us at info@das-studio.us. We will be happy to explain

We are on Apartment Therapy

 Click on link to do the tour

Apartment Therapy House Tour

75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

7.5 fun facts in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge

The dream of spanning the Golden Gate Strait had been around for well over a century before the Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic on May 28, 1937.  Pedestrian Day was held on May 27, 1937.

http://goldengatebridge.org/research/facts.php

“A Wild Flight of the Imagination” was the title of a promotional pamphlet written in 1922 by chief engineer of the bridge, Joseph Strauss, and city top engineer, Michael O’Shaughnessy.
http://www.californiahistoricalsociety.org/exhibitions/

Theater architect John Eberson originally rendered the bridge’s suspension tower, circa 1930, in his brief work as a consultant to Strauss. One of his more famous theatres in the U.S. is the Loew’s Paradise in the Bronx, New York, which opened in 1929 on the then-thriving Grand Concourse, which was recently restored in 2006.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2012/03/07/DDBO1NFHPA.DTL&object=/c/pictures/2012/03/07/ba-place07_SFC0107311348.jpg

Eleven men died in the construction of the bridge.  Until February 17, 1937, there had been only one fatality, setting a new all-time record in a field where one man killed for every million dollars spent had been the norm.  On February 17, ten more men lost their lives when a section of scaffold carrying twelve men fell through the safety net. The most conspicuous precaution was the safety net, suspended under the floor of the Bridge from end to end.  During construction, the net saved the lives of 19 men who became known as the “Halfway-to-Hell Club.”

The Golden Gate Bridge is painted Golden Gate Bridge International Orange which was selected by Consulting Architect Irving F. Morrow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_orange

The 4,200 foot long suspension span of the  Golden Gate Bridge was the longest span in the world from the time of its construction in 1937 until New York City’s Verrazano Narrows Bridge was opened on November 21, 1964.  It is 60 feet longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

On Sunday, May 27, 2012 there will be an event celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge.

http://goldengatebridge75.org/

Blog by Francisco de León

DAS Guest Blogger Francisco

Which comes first the chicken or the well-designed egg?

Does a chicken have a sense of style? Does the design of a chicken coop affect egg production? Do country chickens live in shabby coops while urban chickens reside in contemporary abodes? These are some of the questions that came to my mind when I found this:

http://www.nogg.co/

This is indeed a beautifully designed chicken coop. The idea of a chicken roosting in an egg is a clever one that might inspire meditation on recursion. And, of course, this coop would look fabulous in a modernist backyard. I must admit, I am easily seduced by beautiful well-made things.

But what if we asked a chicken what it thinks of this? It might say, “I’m not a fussy chick. All I need is a place that keeps me dry and safe. So yes, this would work but here’s the challenge. The price of this beautiful chicken house is £1950.00 (currently $3,146.52) not including shipping etc. That’s a lot of eggs to lay to pay for this fabulous house.” Does this foreshadow a chicken house foreclosure scandal in our future? Who knows? All I know is that if I were that chicken I’d look for a couple of heavy laying sisters as housemates.

May your roost be finely feathered,
Francisco

P.S. No chickens were hurt during the writing of this blog entry.

Due to Francisco's chicken coop post some readers have expressed an interest in egg-shaped dwellings for humans. Therefore, we think you might be interested in this (click on link):

Carpenter-builds-incredible-egg-shaped-treehouse

Francisco A. de León is a graphic designer with a Bachelor of Architecture. We enjoy his sharp wit and keen observations. He will periodically guest post on our blog. We hope you enjoyed his "eggcentric" point of view.

DAS Architectural Idea

Making an Old Bathtub Look New. 

Renovating a bathroom can be a pricey, disruptive and time consuming endeavor: Demolish everything; Replace the tiles and fixtures. Taking the old and perfectly good bathtub and replacing it with a new one often of poorer quality adds even more cost without great benefits. However leaving the bathtub as is creates an eye sore in an otherwise new bathroom.

Before

After

One of the ideas we implemented in this project is keeping the old bathtub in place but enclosing it's front with tile. It appears new from the outside and fits in perfectly with the new styling of the bathroom. Two things should be considered when doing this: you need a big enough bathroom as the new ledge will take up 4", you must carefully waterproof the tile ledge and floor. In our case we used the floor tiles for the ledge This visually links the front of the bathroom with the floor, eliminates the ugly standard bathtub front and the room feels more continuous and spacious.

Floor tiles creating the edge

Ledge and Vanity

Ledge with Shower Door Track

Things We Like

It is Mid April, the taxes are done, and time to start new ideas! Each month we will feature designs, furniture, fixtures and appliances we find worth interesting. Good designs for some items are hard to find, for example; area rugs. We have found they are often very expensive for good ones or when not expensive they look cheap and are of low quality. Therefor we decided to start this series with introducing a rug designer we like, who addresses this issue very well.

Tania Johnson Design does custom contemporary hand-knotted rugs. She specializes in translating her textural photographs into ethereal designs. Every rug starts with an image that inspires her. The great thing about the carpets is that most of them can be ordered in different qualities knot, which makes them affordable to more of us while being beautiful and of good quality.

DAS Minimalist Easter Egg

Architectural Easter Egg

Architects like black.  It is minimal and classic, quite a contrast to the traditional painted Easter egg.  As children we enjoy painting Easter eggs in wild, colorful designs, but as adults our taste change.  So why not give this tradition an architectural twist, a little more in tune with a minimalistic taste? A Black Easter Egg!  It works very well with the yellows of Spring flowers like Daffodils and Forsythia. The pure black form contrasting with both the color and shape of the flowers.

For a little more color and fun why not attempt to recreate some twentieth Century art on the eggs? Maybe a little Mondrian or El Lissitsky like the two eggs below.

DAS Interior Design Ideas

As we move from winter into spring we all feel the need to spruce things up. It’s a time of change, the warm lighter days of spring are replacing the cold dark ones of winter. Why not extend that feeling to our homes? It does not have to be a major project entailing months of planning and vast expense. A few simple changes to accessories or accents can transform the winter room to a summer one.

Let's go back to David and John's place and show you how very minor modifications can lead to significant changes in mood and setting.

In the following photos we show the same couch with different pillows. As you see, the atmosphere of the room changes. Some pillows intensifying the colors in the rugs others subduing them. These photos, all taken with at the same time of day with identical lighting and exposure settings, show stark differences between the effect of the black, orange and white patterned pillows. The black ones create a subtle lounge like effect, creating a sophisticated evening atmosphere. While the orange pillows pick out the colors of the rug and console in the back - giving the space a lighter casual daytime feel.  Two starkly different moods created by swapping nothing but pillow covers.

DAS Spring Idea

On the question: How are you? One of our friends replied, "I've got daffodils on my desk which make me happy. You should get some too!" She's right. Even if it is still cold and sometimes wet outside we all feel spring is coming. The days are getting longer. The sun is warmer and the farmers market are full of fresh flowers.

Why not bring spring into our homes and offices? Pick potted crocuses, daffodils or tulips. You can just leave them in a clay pot or put them in a glass bowl with some pebbles around or colored wax paper. 

At Harlem Flo they add some twigs around the tulips to give them a bouquet like look, contrasting the spiky twigs with the fresh new leaves.

DAS News

We are pleased to announce that our West Village project has been published on Apartment Therapy:

David & John's Deco Meets Modern House Call

Name: David & John
Location: West Village, New York City
The apartment blends two distinct tastes, into a cohesive style: The traditional taste of John based on the Art Deco style of the building and David's modern tastes.
John, a Philadelphia born lawyer, with fairly traditional taste in interior design had lived in this West Village Art Deco condominium for fifteen years. It was furnished with a mix of old family pieces and antiques collected over the years for various former homes in Philadelphia, Washington DC and Connecticut. When David, a British architect and partner in DAS Studio (an architectural and interior design firm in Manhattan), moved into the apartment they decided it was an opportune time to redesign the space combining the best of both styles.
The result is an apartment that reflects two different tastes cohesively merged into one creating a calm and welcoming atmosphere.