WEEK 7? or perhaps WEEK 19?

It does seem all ablur, no? How are y'all doing? Days slide by, I look out my windows to what has always been a fairly active roadway. . . . pas maintenant. I actually conducted a little survey a week or so ago.....from 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM on a Wednesday morning, I actually sat and counted the cars that drove down the street to the stoplights from which most traffic would turn right to access the on-ramps to the Champlain Bridge or Hwy 15 northbound - or the 10 east to get directly downtown. In normal times, it is a bustle of cars, bikes and buses at that time of the morning. And generally through until about 9:30 or so.
That day, 72 cars made the trip - the trip past our building to the corner of Boulevard René Levesque - to head to work. 72 cars! Astonishing.......and even now, mid-afternoon, if I gaze through the window, the roadway is pretty much vacant.

We all feel it - it's all we talk about. It's the focus that captivates our compass, day to day.
The only good sense advice that makes any sense is, 'Hang in there.' Right?

But here - here we have a lovely distraction. Yes - I know it's a train. And it's a train on a bridge....but, what a train and - what a bridge!

Seen from the other side of the bridge, it's somewhat different. 

This is, a part of that train! Believe it or not - as is this

​This is the KRUGER SHALATI TRAIN LODGE. . . . . ​For those looking for something unique, exotic, and surrounded by views, the Kruger Shalati Train Lodge checks all the boxes. The boutique hotel is housed in a restored train stationed on the Selati Bridge above South Africa's Sabie River. Each car has been converted to house 31 luxury guest rooms that highlight the local culture with local art and custom furniture along with a lounge carriage offering a bar, pool, and deck overlooking Kruger National Park. The train Lodge will begin boarding passengers in September 2020.

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Kruger Shalati: The Train on the Bridge. One of the most anticipated and exciting new offerings coming to the iconic Kruger National Park, South Africa. A perfect combination of Africa’s most breathtaking natural splendours with well-deserved luxuries aboard a newly refurbished train that’s reminiscent of African excellence.
Permanently stationed on the historically-rich Selati Bridge above the Sabie River, Kruger Shalati will offer the most unique luxury accommodation in a re-envisioned train which will pay homage to the guests who explored the park nearly 100 years ago while welcoming new explorers from near and far. The train celebrates where the first visits to the iconic park were allowed in the early 1920s, the train would park overnight in the exact spot where Kruger Shalati will be positioned.
Offering 31 rooms, consisting of 24 carriage rooms and 7 Bridge House rooms, all of which will provide a deeply visceral experience, tailored for immersive comfort. Whether you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind adventure, an enthralling break or to simply immerse yourself in earth’s finest creations, Kruger Shalati looks forward to welcoming you on a journey of discovery with nature in the most extraordinary way imaginable.
The glass-walled, large train rooms allow for infinite views along the length of the majestic Sabie River while the style of the train is a celebration of African design in collaboration with local art and crafting skills. High above the riverbanks, aligned with the floor level of the train, will lie our bespoke deck with pool, offering a swimming experience unlike any other – with crocodile, hippos, buffalos and elephants greeting guests meters below – a vista unlike any other!
Thought-provoking, unique design is core to our offering, but the holistic experience is centred around our human-ness, our cultural nuances, the people involved in the making of every element, and ultimately the kindness with which we receive our guests.
Experience the Kruger, suspended over the Sabie River.

To my mind, this would be the perfect escape - from these days, these times.
Check out the web-site at: ​https://www.krugershalati.com

A luxury apartment on Paris’ Avenue Raymond Poincaré required a feature staircase in the middle of its stylish living room.
The staircase, which connects the home’s main living area to its master bedroom features attractive wooden treads and risers which combine with steel a Cells balustrade finished in white. An attractive, glossy EeSoffit finish – also finished in white was used on the stair’s underside, an alternative to stucco plasterwork that doesn’t compromise on strength or style.

https://www.eestairs.com/en/projects/38355-poincaré-paris

 Fascinating!  Clearly, the world is fast-changing. Science, technology - innovations. You wouldn't have believed it some few months ago if you were told that a 1000 bed hospital could be built from the ground up and be operational within 6 weeks. And yet, that is precisely what happened in China. In the last issue of DR•I you read about small footprint housing that is the product of a 3D printer! And now this!
​An accordion house! Fascinating!

House in Tezukayama / Fujiwaramuro Architects

​Text description provided by the architects. This small house is located on a narrow street in a dense Osaka neighborhood. We were involved in the project starting with the search for a lot and visited a number of potential sites with the client. Ultimately, we selected this sited measuring 3.74 m across by 16.31 m deep. One of the client’s requests was that the house provide places to display their photos, pictures, and decorations. The lot’s small size, however, meant the living space had to be compact and multi-story, with some of the space allocated to a staircase. Furthermore, the crowded residential neighborhood promised little chance of good exterior views.

​As a strategy for solving all of these problems at once, we devised a “shelf-staircase” that serves as both display space and living space, in addition to providing interesting interior views. The shelf-staircase is structurally independent from the overall building. This independence is visually expressed through slits inserted between the staircase and the split-level floors in front of and behind it. Sunlight filters pleasantly through skylights at the top of these slits. 
The shelf-staircase is comprised of passages, shelves, a desk, and living space. The views as one goes up and down the stairs are reminiscent of moving three-dimensionally through a forest. Designed to function centrally in the residents’ daily life, the structure is highly practical. The items they have displayed on the shelves, from shoes to toiletries and laundry supplies, create a relaxed mood

At the top of the shelf-staircase is a study with a desk that melds into the shelving. The soft natural light from the slits casts a mottled pattern like light filtering through trees onto the structure, making it a comfortable place where the residents sometimes pause to sit on one of the soft pine treads and read a book. It serves one more function as well: a giant cat tower for the recent feline addition to the family.  

FujiwaraMuro Architects : : TEL / 06-6761-5577 : : E-MAIL / fujiwaramuro@aplan.jp

Close to home, in Vermont

​Woodstock Farm is a modern architectural masterpiece and landmark work by award winning and internationally recognized architect Rick Joy. Based on a conceptual framework that draws from the simplest archetypical forms, this dramatic stone and shingle house and counterposed barn is set on over 200 acres of Vermont countryside minutes from the picturesque village of Woodstock and in close to ivy league Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.  

Plus, it has its own hockey rink in the basement!

WOODSTOCK FARM

Melding effortlessly into the Green Mountains, the property is sensationally experiential in nature and the design is executed with the sharpest attention to craft and detail. Drawing directly from the architectural vernacular of the rural northeast, the tension between the historical and contemporary is conveyed, to paraphrase the architect, “through the massive character of the walls, through the qualities of light and dark, through spatial movement and through atmosphere.”  

The four-bedroom main residence offers a 152-foot elongated gable house with massive end walls of quarried Lake Champlain bedrock and cedar cladding on the roof and side walls. The east gable wall presents a unique and transformational entry that conveys the individual into the cathedral-like great room with its impressive interior space created by the structure’s Barker steel bent frame construction. The eye is also immediately drawn to the long hall that provides visual and physical connection to the additional en-suite bedrooms terminating at the dramatic sliding door to the master bedroom suite. 

The living spaces present the highest level of interior fittings and furnishings, and behind the blind nailed fir wall interiors, the property employs cutting edge mechanical, electrical and geothermal heating and cooling systems technology.  

The basement of the main home also offers a synthetic ice floor for indoor hockey practice.  

​Price?  $9,750,000 USD

Curved glass doors puncture the residential extension of this brick house in Montreal, designed by local studio TBA.
Called DeNormanville, the single-storey dwelling is in Montreal's Rosemont borough, also known as La Petite-Patrie. It comprises a historic red brick home with a paler, more contemporary addition.

Montréal - that most unique and distinctive crucible of design and creativity. Here is just another example of why we're proud to be, Montrealers. This appeared in de seen digital magazine and was written by Bridget Cogley. Bridget is a reporter for Dezeen.

She graduated from University College of London with a master's degree in European history in 2014, with a focus on modernist architecture in Tel Aviv. While studying, she worked for a start-up involving product transparency, and then moved to New York City to continue working within the fashion and start-up industries. 

Bridget joined Dezeen as an intern in summer 2017, before she was made editorial assistant and then reporter for the US team.

Tom Balaban Architect (TBA) designed the extension for the house to both connect and contrast with the original structure, which is known as a shoebox home.
These dwellings were erected in Montreal in the early the 20th century in tandem with the development of the tramway system, but over the decades they have been replaced with low-rise, multi-unit apartment buildings.

Again! Québec style! You'd almost get the idea that it's spéciale. . . . non?
'Cause it is - this is another example of prettyCool architecture to be found here.
The Lakeside Cabin in Quebec, Canada, looks like a great place to hang with friends, literally – thanks to a climbing rope in the front room. Besides this fun little addition, it's well-equipped for entertaining guests and is designed to maintain a comfortable interior temperature, even in the harshest winter conditions.
Lakeside Cabin (aka Chalet Lakeside) was designed by Atelier Schwimmer for two brothers who enjoy an outdoorsy lifestyle. It features an attractive exterior finished in a local larch wood – much of which has been charred using the Japanese Shou Sugi Ban method to protect and preserve it. Additionally, the exterior has a cantilevering section that juts out to shade the home in summer.
Atelier Schwimmer