p r o g r e s s ■

Development towards an improved or more advanced condition • as defined by Lexico/Oxford dictionary

To that end efforts are underway to continue the development of DR•I - to improve the nature, style and character, to bring the reader a richer, more fluid and efficient experience.

With this issue there will be an eBook file [.epub]  of the previous publication, 4•6. 
Why? It will allow the reader to download the eBook and read/review it without the requirement of an internet connection. It is, a book - it is the publication in a book form.
What will change is that a) an ePub document does not support slideshows and b) it is more cumbersome to include gallery photo displays.
Other than that it will deliver the exact same content.
Bear in mind - no attempt has been made to style the document - it is, ratther pedestrian in appearance.
That will change as we, advance.

Along the mangroves: The in-between space of Jack Trolove’s paintings 

Tulia Thompson talks to Paparoa painter Jack Trolove
and considers his new body of work,
on show in Auckland from Sunday. 

​After painting all day, Jack Trolove walks along the mangrove coastline. It is dusk, as the day is turning, dark gathering, the mangroves becoming more shadowy. The way places you love slip into your consciousness, like the phrases and gestures of a loved one. Likewise there is something of in-between states about Jack’s potent new paintings. 

The dark eyes in a large oil on raw linen painting, ‘Aerial Roots’, are brimming with tears. The young man looks either triumphant, or destroyed. Which is it? This is what makes painter Jack Trolove’s portraits so compelling. There is the visual immediacy of the faces, often in close-up, simultaneously slipping back into abstract lines of thick, bold paint.

I meet Jack during level two. The required lack of hug feels a bit awkward but necessary, and the vegan cafe is otherwise empty of customers. He is wearing a dull black shirt with muted red roses. He has only just finished painting. He is still “close up in it”. I ask him what it has been like working during lockdown, and he explains he stopped painting. He thought his new exhibition Mangrove at Whitespace in Auckland would be cancelled, and got a shock when it wasn’t. 

“I just quit my life in an amazing way.” Instead, he grew vegetables. 

Jack lives in a hut in the bush in Paparoa, one and a half hours north of Auckland. “You have to walk through the bush to go to the loo.”

Mangrove, a collection of 11 portraits, draws visual cues from the palate of Trolove’s surroundings, but the central concern of being liminal, between things, is an ongoing preoccupation and lived experience. Mangroves, those dark, waxy, horizon-dwellers that cleave to shoreline, are resolutely intertidal, they can tolerate being submerged in sea water.  

‘Aerial Roots’ is so called because of mangrove’s pheumatophones – the muddy sticks you see around mangroves that take oxygen to their roots. A breathing device.

Mangrove has also been propelled by technical and aesthetic curiosity; the thick impasto work Jack has done previously is still exciting to him, but it was a challenge “to work with mark marking”. Colour became “intuitive”. He wanted to create “shifting space”. 

The blue eyes in another painting, ‘Bones’, look tired. Maybe his subject is exhausted. Maybe her gentle face is just watching something distant, her mouth uncertain. There are dark greens and browns that harness the work to the earth. Jack feels this painting does what he dreamed for it. Some devastation, some hope. Sometimes when he walks past the studio he says she looks peaceful.

This is only a part of the interview. Go here to read the full article.

I have made this observation, comment, in previous issues - there seems to be a wholly different and unique grasp of residential architecture by latin professionals - Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador - we have included many, many fine homes in DR•I these past many months. I a personally, am always blown away by the inventiveness, the boldness - the fearlessness of new trails blazed in such architecture. 

This house, as an example, is a study in tactility, in texture - a collision of colours and moods that provide both tranquility and a fizzy excitement at the same time. Definitely a 'zen-ness' to aspects of the design.

I seriously doubt if a North American architect or designer would have the courage to combine what is seen in this image. . . . the 'fence', of a seafoam green weathered cast is a brilliant formatic device that articulates and grounds the street level experience. The poured in place concrete shell and assymetrical roof beams are both a geometric statement and a deft slash of a well wielded pen - or pencil - or stylus. 
There is a definite Asian 'voice' in the vertical wood cladding - almost bamboo-like.

Brilliant! This is one singular pivot-mounted slab door that opens into a beckoning and sensual entryway.
​The uplighting is a quite perfect touch.

Wing House / Studio Guilherme Torres

Architects: Studio Guilherme Torres
http://www.studioguilhermetorres.com.br/
Area:       600 m²
Year:       2018
Photographs:          Denilson Machado – MCA Estúdio

Text description provided by the architects. In 2015, the program requested by the client was relatively simple: a house just for him, with space to welcome his daughter on weekends and maybe in the future to start a new family. Another request was to make the most of the view of the valley in the back, which is a permanent preservation zone, in addition to designing the house entirely in exposed concrete. The first idea was to explore the slope of the land, locating the living room integrated with the kitchen and pool at the lowest level of the property. At the central level service structures, a small home theater and an office/guest room were located, with the upper floor reserved for 3 suites.

The aim of the project was that all rooms had the same privileged view of nature. Another key point of the proposal was to create a dramatic free span, framing nature and accommodating the main access to the house and garage. To make use of this effect, a gable covered in copper cuts the lot in half, supporting the upper structure of the residence and creating a counterpoint to the simple and sculptural architecture of the house. The sculptural effect of the concrete structure came about through a “folding exercise” in the architect's words. “I composed the blocks by materials: in the basement a volume covered in marble, on the middle floor a volume in copper and on the upper floor, a wooden box. Embracing the three materials, a concrete shell, which is limited to just two support points”.

Such simplicity is only conceptual considering how exquisite the final touches, fittings and material encounters are. Excellence in the quality of finishes is the client's merit: a perfectionist passionate about architecture. In the hiatus since the house was built a lot has happened; today it is also home to his wife, a small son and another one on the way. The architecture is timeless, but time doesn't stop.

THE PARCHMENT WORKS
In the countryside of Northamptonshire sits a Grade II listed Victorian house along with a cattle shed and the ruins of a former parchment factory. Rather than demolish the existing relic, Will Gamble Architects transformed it into a contemporary extension. The building's existing masonry walls were left intact and delicate glass volumes were inserted throughout the voids, preserving the historic quality of the property. To further highlight the original character, a material palette of Corten steel, oak, and reclaimed brick clads the exterior while rugged oak beams, lime-washed stone walls, and a concrete plinth live harmoniously with a modern kitchen throughout the interior.

The existing property consisted of a Grade II listed double fronted Victorian house.  Connected to the house was a disused cattle shed and beyond that a ruin, which was a former parchment factory and scheduled monument.   

The client’s initial brief was to convert the cattle shed and demolish the ruin to make way for a new extension.  From the beginning of the design process it was clear that the client viewed the ruin as a constraint as opposed to a positive asset that could be celebrated through a sensitive but well conceived intervention.   

Instead of demolishing the ruin, Will Gamble Architects proposed ‘a building within a building’ - where two lightweight volumes could be delicately inserted within the masonry walls in order to preserve and celebrate it.  

A palette of honest materials were chosen both internally and externally which references the site’s history and the surrounding rural context.   

Externally, corten steel, oak, and reclaimed brick were used. The extension was built from up-cycled materials predominantly found on site which was both cost effective and sustainable,  whilst allowing the proposal to sensitively blend into its surroundings.   

Internally the structural beams of the existing cattle shed were exposed, as well as the steelwork to the new parts - the stone walls were re-pointed and washed in lime to create a mottled effect, and a concrete plinth was cast along the base to create a monolithic skirting.   

A contemporary kitchen (also designed by the practice) juxtaposes the uneven and disordered nature of the ruin and continues the theme of a modern intervention set within a historic context. 

Photography by Johan Dehlin

William Gamble • Architects

Mobile Pixels DUEX Pro Portable Dual Monitor

DUEX:
Nothing amps up your productivity like working with two screens, but computer monitors can be crazy expensive and tend to take up a ton of space. Thankfully, you don't need a full desktop setup to work with multiple screens on the go— the DUEX Pro Portable Dual 1080p Monitor lets you enjoy dual screen functionality anywhere, anytime. The DUEX Pro is a completely portable dual-screen laptop accessory that helps boost your productivity by up to 50% and allows for efficient multitasking. It's simple to use and provides flexible rotation and dual-sided sliding with 270-degree rotation, as well as the option for a 180-degree presentation mode. DUEX Pro is lightweight, energy efficient, and incredibly durable. Just attach the DUEX Pro to the back of any laptop, and you're ready to work wherever you are! 

For details and ordering information, go here.

​For a long-treasured family lake house in desperate need of a refresh, two sisters turned to Schumacher to zhuzh-up their midcentury modern space without dismantling its perfectly imperfect charms. Stylish and happy indoor/outdoor fabrics were just the things to channel the cabin’s surprisingly chic legacy—and they’re tough enough to handle anything that comes their way.

​The lakeside getaway that sisters Vivette Porges and Claudia Beyer grew up in and inherited from their parents had begun to show its age. But any redo would require a gentle hand to preserve the home’s intellectual-boho air: Their dad, Peter Paul Porges, had been an illustrator for The New Yorker; their mom, Lucie, had spent 43 years as a designer for fashion icon Pauline Trigère, and had lovingly renovated the home. Both of them were Viennese émigrés, and through the years the cottage crackled with life. It was the type of place where the neighborhood kids congregated for breakfast, where the atmosphere was welcoming and unpretentious, and all the details felt right without any of it trying too hard. “We didn’t want to do anything that would change the essence of Mama’s house,” says Vivette.

In the end, the Schumacher team opted for indoor/outdoor fabrics in the kinds of bold, bright motifs that Lucie always favored to wake up the spaces without altering them too much. The high-performance textiles are ideal for the relaxed, easy-breezy lifestyle that the family has always cherished at the house, and honor the chic practicality that Lucie espoused. “She would love it,” says Claudia.

It was the type of place where the neighborhood kids congregated for breakfast, where the atmosphere was welcoming and unpretentious.

By Mario López-Cordero
https://livetheedit.com/2019/04/relaxed-lake-house-bright-transformation-design/?utm_source=style%20dispatch&utm_medium=cta&utm_campaign=Porges%20House

Produced by Olivia Caponigro and Tori Mellott. Photography by Max Kim-Bee.
Interior styling by Olga Naiman.
​Food styling by Paul Grimes.

METRICK COTTAGE & BOATHOUSE

From the architects:
Settled in a rocky enclave of seasonal, waterfront homes, Metrick Cottage is a one-storey, wood-clad, residence and boathouse on the shore of Lake Joseph, Ontario. This year-round retreat for a multi-generational family, draws inspiration from the rugged beauty that surrounds it to create a warm, elegant, and eco-friendly home.    

Team:                 Robert Kastelic, Kelly Buffey, Nazia Aftab

Construction:    Mazenga North

Photography:     Shai Gil

The design of the main cottage consists of three distinct yet connected ‘pods’ comprised of an open, communal space, flanked by private bedroom suites. The residence was carefully situated in the landscape so that the bedrooms face a stone ridge on either side, creating a visual boundary that extends the perception of space while providing privacy. At the same time, each pod is slightly angled from each other in order to capture the longest view from the central pod where the family congregates. Various textures of wood were used, from the semi-charred fir cladding to a torrified-ash that wraps the interior floors, walls, and ceilings.   

From the Lake, the cottage is designed to elegantly blend into the rugged terrain, while the boathouse maintains a quiet presence on the water. Together, the home offers a serene oasis for the Metrick family, with panoramic views of the lake and shoreline beyond. 

Sited on the shore of Lake Joseph in Ontario, the Metrick Cottage & Boathouse reflects is rugged scenery in design and materials. The main house is devised as three gabled volumes. Their charred fir exteriors feature exposed joists and oversized eaves, giving them a rustic character while standing-seam metal roofs and expansive glazing provide a contemporary quality. Each timber structure is separated by function, with the main living areas in the center and the master bedroom and guest suite on either side. Intimate areas are placed toward a stone ridge for privacy and angled to allow the central gathering pod unobstructed views across the lake. Stretching from the shore, an accompanying boathouse floats on the water's surface and offers three slips and sweeping vistas.

Discipline, in design, is a prerequisite. One's ability to conceive a vision, a concept - and then to see it through all the pathways and processes - all the while remailing true to that core vision, is discipline.
That's what we see i this mostwonderful lakeside retreat. An essentially monochromatic colour scheme, one wherein the tones of natural materials, form a comforting coccoon in a wllderness setting. 
Kudos to the architectural/design team - and to the clients - who quarterbacked this initiative through to such a wonderful result!

And so here we are again ◾  this is now, the second mid-month issue ◾  and still, no one has responded/replied in regards to stating if you 'like it' or 'don't like it' - hmmmmmm ◾  not so easy to figure you all out, not

Back@you in 2 weeks

​