A New Dawn - A New Day • finally!

Hi all

H A P P Y  N E W  Y E A R  !

It will be, hopefully, so much better.

2020 was a year of unbelievable turmoil, change, disruption - no need to repeat the specifics here.

Personally I know of no one who has not been dramatically affected by the events, be they medical, political, psychological or otherwise.

Fron UnCrate
HI SEA FLOATING HOUSE
Just off the coast of Dongshan Island, the Hi Sea Floating House is a personal oasis. The 5,000-square-foot retreat, designed by Dong Xinmeng, is surrounded by nothing but the sea, docked by 16 metal anchors, and operates completely off-grid like its own private island. To protect the volume from its maritime environment, it's constructed from corrosion-resistant material used on yachts and the exterior decking is made with weather-resistant flooring that resembles timber. The wood-lined interior houses a collection of serene living spaces enveloped by views of the water, while an expansive deck extends the interior out to a spa, circular lounge area, and endless ocean vistas.

Photos: Xia Zhi / Balance Design

Since it’s inception in 2010, gooood has expanded rapidly into the most popular and influential architecture, landscape, design and art online magazine and community. Based in Beijing, we now boast over 22,200,000 page views a month, with traffic doubling every year. gooood is a top-ranked website in the field of Architecture (including landscape and interior design) which has the highest traffic in China (one of the top 5 architecture sites in the world; 1st rank in top architecture sites in both China and Asia). Despite already having over 5,400,000 followers on our website and social media accounts (440,000 on WeChat ) and honored with a top position of leadership, influence and reputation within the industry, gooood continues to grow at an exponential rate. gooood believe that design and creation can benefit all people. We aim to assist with changing the world by promoting world’s best architecture/landscape/interior works and ideas, energizing enterprises in the creative industry chain.

https://www.gooood.cn/aboutus

S E R E N I T Y 

This space - the space defined by the gracious envelope - just feels, comforting - feels serene.
A space like this is the kind of space I suspect all of us need right now. . . . . no barriers - column-free.....a bare minimum interior walls. Personally I find this soothing - a salve that would help to nourish and sustain a sense of balance in one's life.

YEZO is a small retreat, nestled in the northern mountain range of Hokkaido, Japan, that takes advantage of the dramatic landscape and an experimental design approach to create a private sanctuary surrounded by nature. Its lean tectonic system combined with only a most essential spatial programme redefines the modern meaning of true luxury: a place and time for quiet reflection and private enjoyment in a setting defined by wood, stone, water, and light, surrounded by ever-changing natural beauty.
The project’s elegant and fluid space follows a highly minimalist, yet expressive, performance-driven material and construction approach. The wooden roof shell structure is built up from glue-laminated (GluLam) timber beams suspended from a central concrete chimney and clad with regionally sourced black slate. GluLam timber is a structural engineered wood product that reduces reliability on less-sustainable old growthdependent solid-sawn timber. YEZO’s curved GluLam beams are carefully shaped to operate in pure tension throughout, resulting in a weight- and material reduction of 90% when compared to straight beams. Their shape is optimised to allow fabrication from one single mould. This approach minimises the project’s ecological impact and reduces manufacturing cost and delivery time while maintaining a highly qualitative spatial design.
LOCATION | Hokkaido, Japan
LEAD DESIGN TEAM | Kristof Crolla, Julien Klisz

Watch the video here

This is the kind of refuge that would work for us all in these times, these days.

And now, as design professionals, we can celebrate -
through the following images -
​the principles and standards of our training: : 

OOOPS! Well, really now - not a big deal I suppose - I mean, someone simply goofed when taking the base building measurements.......hmmmm!

And this? Nahhhh! It's not a flaw - it's a feature - I mean with the drain elevated this way the shower waters will get nicely deep in order to keep your footsies nice and warm, right?
​Of course - it's definitely a  f e a t u r e !

There's always a reason, right?
Yes. This issue - the first of 24 in this year, is late - and I apologize. Problem was that I suffered a complete systems meltdown a week ago - just as I was preparing to release this issue. The details are not important except it took 5 full days of analysis and diagnostics to determine the source of the problem. And the problem actually was, that there were three problems - a perfect storm of component failures in my main system.....wasn't even aware that there was more than one problem until the first was solved - and the system still didn't work. Long story short it was a hair-pulling frustrating experience compounded by the fact that there was nowhere to turn to for help as all tech companies were in lockdown. 

So - it was through perseverance and determined problem-solving efforts that things did eventually, get put back to normal. Phew!

A final note - immediately following the release of this issue there will be an important email regarding the future of DR•I - please watch for it in your mailbox.

On this solemn day, as Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th President, the threads and tendrils of faith, honour and human kindness are being re-woven in a quilt to replace the one, which over the last few years, had become somewhat threadbare. Personally I wish to all of you - health, happiness and a greater hope for this coming year.