Modern Bedrooms

06/05/2020

Tour a Dreamy Family Escape High Above Cannes
Designed by rising-star firm Humbert & Poyet, this South of France villa raises the bar on indoor-outdoor living
By Gay Gassmann

Photography by Francis Amiand

May 29, 2020

With a rare 360-degree view of Cannes and the Lérins Islands, this family residence is full of natural light and a color palette inspired by the Mediterranean below. Designed by young interior architect design duo Humbert & Poyet, the house is the perfect expression of indoor-outdoor living. Founded by Monacan Christophe Poyet and Parisian Emil Humbert in 2007, the creative studio has been putting the finishing touches on projects from Monaco to Hong Kong, Dubai, London, and Mexico City, to name a few.

When Humbert and Poyet signed on to the project, the residence was merely a concrete shell. The owners, who began the projects several years prior, had decided to halt construction for a period of time. "We received a modern, open to nature, raw structure, and we had to finish everything," recalls Poyet. "All the flooring, the windows, the surfaces—everything." The owners, whose primary residence is in Paris, wanted the property to express the glamour of the Cote d’Azur: "something sophisticated, connected to nature, and a design where the inside and outside communicate," explains Humbert.

The house—whose 13,000 square feet, with five bedrooms and five bathrooms, are connected by a four-story central staircase—was designed to offer its occupants stunning views through every window. "The staircase is the spine of the house, and we decided to create this colorful link, this gesture, to connect all of the floors," notes Humbert of the architectural feature, pointing out that they chose to incorporate three shades of blue on its walls.

The designers, given carte blanche for the interiors since the owners didn't plan to bring many of their previously procured items, sourced and designed everything. "It’s an eclectic mix of objects—vintage, modern, [some pieces] designed by us," says Humbert. "This is what we like to do all the time." Also characteristic of their work is the attention to precise details and the use of textured materials like marble, brass, wood, and caning. The bold designs on the floors, bright colors, and sleek bathrooms are all Humbert & Poyet signatures.

Continued through link https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/humbert-and-poyet-cannes-villa

05/08/2020

Tour a Globally Oriented Family Home in Paris
Design firm Liaigre realizes a dreamy domestic setup in the city’s leafy Neuilly-sur-Seine enclave
By Gay Gassmann

Photography by François Halard

In what is often referred to as the 21st arrondisement of Paris, the upscale suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, to the west of the city’s center, is a haven of tree-lined streets with private homes and proximity to the huge park the Bois de Boulogne. Residential, quiet, and Parisian in spirit, one family house from the 1930s is also something of an invitation to faraway locales. Inside this modernist home, an art-loving couple showcases their collections of contemporary and international art.

The interiors were entrusted to the Liaigre Design Studio, whose creative director, Frauke Meyer, says, “The client was a big supporter of Liaigre and familiar with the furniture and the history of the company. He had always thought that when he had his own house, he would have [us] design it.”

The house, which is approximately 6,500 square feet, was a considerable project for the firm. “It was almost like building a new house—a complete renovation tailor-made for the family,” Meyer says, looking back. “It was all a bit mysterious and had an overgrown garden, a kind of dreamy atmosphere, some sort of former glamour.” They raised the roof and added the second floor, and it now comprises four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The floor plan had to be completely rethought, and Liaigre created everything over the course of the six-year renovation, including the spectacular spiral staircase that is the spine of the house.

The clients, who have three children living at home, came to the project with an extensive art collection. “I was not so aware of the impact of their African art collection [at first], but it gives the house another dimension,” Meyer says. “The work brings you somewhere else and gives it so much character.”

Continued through link
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/liaigre-neuilly-sur-seine-home

04/26/2020

"Inside Rapper Drake's Manor House in Hometown Toronto"

By Mayer Rus

Photography by Jason Schmidt

Styled by Colin King

Remember the chintzy, pimped-out McMansions that were a staple of the long-running MTV series Cribs? The Toronto home of mega recording artist Aubrey Drake Graham is something else altogether. Measuring 50,000 square feet, with amenities such as an NBA regulation-size indoor basketball court crowned by a 21-square-foot pyramidal skylight, Drake’s astonishing domicile certainly qualifies as extravagant. But instead of vast expanses of cheap drywall and mountains of ungainly furniture upholstered with a hot glue gun, stately Drake Manor, as envisioned by Canadian architectural and interior designer Ferris Rafauli, is a marvel of old-world craftsmanship, constructed of limestone, bronze, exotic woods, and other noble materials. Every detail of the sprawling property has been meticulously conceived and executed. And there isn’t a Scarface poster in sight.

“Because I was building it in my hometown, I wanted the structure to stand firm for 100 years. I wanted it to have a monumental scale and feel,” Drake says of his passion project. “It will be one of the things I leave behind, so it had to be timeless and strong,” he adds.

Dubbed The Embassy, the house takes its cues from traditional Beaux Arts architecture, distilled and slightly abstracted to imbue the classic idiom with a more contemporary spirit. “In form, materials, and ex*****on, the structure is a proper 19th-century limestone mansion. But the exterior profiles are more minimal and the lines are a bit cleaner,” says Rafauli, who heads his own namesake luxury design/build firm based in Ontario. “This isn’t stucco, paint, and fake gold. That’s not what Drake wanted, and that’s not what I do.”

Rafauli describes the crazysexycool interiors as “modern Art Deco,” again referencing a classic historical style that has been tweaked and rejuvenated to mirror the spirit of the times as well as the DNA of his high-profile client. “Once you’ve chosen a certain style, you can dance within that style,” the designer observes. Drake insists, “It’s overwhelming high luxury. That message is delivered through the size of the rooms and the materials and details of the floors and the ceilings. I wanted to make sure people can see the work I’ve put in over the years reflected from every vantage point.”

Continued in link
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/inside-rapper-drakes-hometown-manor-in-toronto =recommendations_default-popular_df501a48-7634-4aa5-8f57-72c4bcc1fe68_popular4-1

04/26/2020

"Bill and Melinda Gates Buy Oceanfront Mansion Near San Diego"

Bill and Melinda Gates are the proud new owners of an oceanfront property in Del Mar, California, that is reportedly one of the biggest deals ever recorded in the area. According to the Wall Street Journal, the tech titan and his wife paid $43 million for the stunning estate, which, according to marketing materials, features multiple structures including a primary family residence, a greenhouse, and two guesthouses, as well as amenities like a health spa, theater, glass-tiled pool, 10-person whirlpool bath, and tennis court.

Built in 1999 by renowned architect-designer Ken Ronchetti, the main dwelling features six bedrooms and four bathrooms spread out over 5,800 square feet. It boasts an impressive 120 feet of direct ocean frontage and an expansive deck with multiple areas for lounging and dining. The previous owner, Madeleine Pickens (former wife of Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens), put the house on the market in early 2019. An article in the San Diego Reader at the time, citing the listing, touted the home’s luxurious building materials. “Everywhere, there is an interplay of the finest woods and stone, including mahogany and clear fir cabinetry and lattia ceilings,” the listing read. “Imported limestone flooring, classic oak sandstone patios, and Getty stone accents impart unparalleled luxury and artistry.”

Not surprisingly, the home is high-tech, with radiant floor heating and automated security, lighting, and climate control systems, as well as a keyless entry system. The Gateses consider their Medina, Washington, compound their primary residence, but also own an equestrian estate in Rancho Santa Fe, California, which they bought from weight loss guru Jenny Craig for $18 million in 2014. They also gifted their daughter Jennifer a $16 million Westchester horse farm upon her graduation from Stanford University in 2018 and a $5 million New York condo overlooking Central Park shortly after that.

By Joyce Chen

04/26/2020

"This Parisian Apartment Gets a Dynamic Update With an Elegantly Undulating Wall"

By Kate Reggev

Photography by Salem Mostefaoui

“It circulates freely,” says Gabrielle Toledano of the ribbon-like walls that wend their way through a Parisian apartment she recently designed for a young family with a new baby. With her firm, Toledano Architects, based in Paris and Tel Aviv, Gabrielle decided to take on the project shortly after returning from her own maternity leave, and wanted to bring “a light element” into the traditional, typical Haussmannian apartment.

The family, lovers of art and design who work in law and finance, came to Gabrielle just after purchasing the apartment. It still retained its original layout: decorative plaster moldings at the ceilings, a long balcony, and hardwood floors in a timeless herringbone pattern. Gabrielle wanted to “preserve the layers of history while giving the space a strong contemporary identity,” she says, and make the apartment “suited to its 21st-century inhabitants.”

Gabrielle’s answer to that challenge was to remove as many of the existing interior partitions as possible, which she felt were a major constraint. “I started designing but I felt like my hands were tied and I couldn’t design as freely as I wanted,” she says. And although she demolished the walls, she retained the existing floors, detailed crown moldings, and ceiling medallions.

She then inserted two curved walls that wound their way throughout the 1,400-square-foot apartment, creating organically shaped rooms: a master suite with a bedroom, open bathroom, and dressing room in one area, and the children’s area with another bedroom and bathroom in another corner. The free-form shapes of the walls are enlivened by the grain patterns of the plywood cladding. “Wood is a living material and it felt very suited to the organic shapes I designed,” says Gabrielle.

The large space left at the center of the apartment becomes a flowing, open kitchen and dining area separated from the living area by the few original walls that were kept in place because of their load-bearing, structural nature. These, in strong contrast to the smooth wood surfaces of the new walls, are painted a crisp white and retain their paneling, wainscot, crown molding, and even a fireplace with a mirror and historic trim. “The plywood gives a ‘young’ feeling,” explains Gabrielle, in contrast to the historic details.

As the wall winds its way through the space, it becomes not only a sculptural element but a practical one as well: It creates niches for storage, houses shelving and closets, hides a powder room by the entrance, creates openings for doorways, and wraps itself around the kitchen area. But one thing it does not do is block views of the original ceiling. Gabrielle explains that the ribbon is intentionally “lower than the ceilings in order to keep the signs of the former historic layout.”

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Working with a carpenter, Gabrielle had the walls prefabricated in a workshop, where the rails, or wood guidelines onto which the walls were installed, were cut using a laser cutter; three thin layers of plywood were bent around the curves to create a stable surface, she explains. The walls were installed along the curved rails that had been placed along the floor; that work was completed in a single day. The walls, she notes, were an important part of meeting the tight budget. Also erected was the boxlike frame that created the bathroom within the master bedroom area.
Continued through link
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/this-parisian-apartment-gets-a-dynamic-update-with-an-undulating-wall =recommendations_default-popular_df501a48-7634-4aa5-8f57-72c4bcc1fe68_popular4-1

04/23/2020

"A Showpiece of Studied Juxtaposition in the Hamptons"

“Starting with beautiful objects and putting them together in a way that's a bit off, that creates some kind of tension—it adds to the power of each object,” says Ryan Lawson, summing up his design philosophy and the leitmotif of his latest project, a Shingle-style vacation home near the town of Sag Harbor, in the Hamptons. Given free rein by his clients, the designer decided to respect the traditional architecture of the house but to also “create a story” that was attuned to the sensibilities of its dwellers, a Manhattan couple with an appreciation for contemporary art and vintage furniture. The result is both timeless and vibrant. Each room in the five-bedroom, two-story property displays an unexpected yet seemingly effortless combination of classic, midcentury, and Art Deco furnishings, complemented by sculptural light fixtures and abstract paintings.

Lawson, who studied art at Washington University in St. Louis before opening his interiors studio in New York City in 2005, says he likes to give himself some leeway in the process of designing a space, to let his imagination flow and make room for improvisation. In this case, he found inspiration in the lush and peaceful landscape surrounding the property, a two-acre garden brimming with hydrangea, myrtle, and lavender, with woodlands as far as the eye can see. “I wanted to create something very inviting that felt appropriate to where the house is located,” he recalls, “and give it some soul.”

He started by commissioning a series of thick hand-hooked rugs to add texture, then headed to some of his favorite antiques dealers to buy items “with patina and stories,” including a French folding screen from the 1920s, made of maplewood and plaster; a Pietro Chiesa glass coffee table from the 1930s, which survived a war without a single chip; and a Guglielmo Ulrich slipper chair from the ’40s. Improvisation notwithstanding, Lawson was very intentional about putting together a striking collection of vintage Italian lamps and chandeliers, seen throughout the house. He also helped his clients choose a series of abstract artworks featuring vivid colors and geometric shapes. “The art is slick and contemporary,” says the designer. “Hopefully it energizes all of the older components and gives the space a ‘now’ quality.”

By Paola Singer

Photography by Chris Mottalini

Styled by Colin King

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/ryan-lawson-sag-harbor-home =recommendations_architectural-digest-bottom-recirc-similar_0d14e4cc-1ca6-4921-a7f6-50eaf6e5b890_text2vec1-mab-text2VecSimilarity

04/23/2020

10 Reasons Marble Is More Versatile Than You Think

“Kelly Wearstler cultivates a very natural aesthetic with the swirling tan and greige Bardiglio-marble walls of her former beach-house living room,” says Karen Pearse. “The honed and leathered finishes in this space also feel very different than the highly polished marble floors many people associate with marble.”1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All rights reserved
An undisputed maestro of marble, purveyor Karen Pearse set her path in stone at an early age. Her father worked in the industry, her mother was a writer and a photographer, and her grandfather was a painter—all three contributed to her fascination with the material and the ability to see it from an artist’s perspective. “My early interest in marble led me to Italy, where I spent several years visiting quarries, meeting with quarry owners, and visiting their factories, not to mention the museums. I learned everything I could about marble,” says Pearse.

She founded her eponymous brand in 1981, spending years working closely with some of the world’s top design talents. Pearse sees plenty of marble ingenuity on a regular basis—and she continues to be impressed by new developments daily—but she doesn’t believe that the material’s full potential is largely recognized by the general public. “Marble has been one of the most sought-after materials for centuries, but many people only think of it in a very traditional sense. While there is great beauty in this, that is only one aspect of it,” she says. “I have seen a tremendous renaissance in recent years, with new quarries being discovered around the world and new ways of fabricating and finishing the stone being developed every day.”

In it, she explores some of the most innovative examples of marble in private homes, public spaces, and even furniture collections that have gone far above and beyond the traditional uses of the material. “The Haas brothers, for example, really surprised me,” she says. “Their work, Bathy Bates, is a whimsical reimagined bathtub carved from a single eight-foot block of Pele de Tigre marble from Portugal. Like Michelangelo, they have an intuitive understanding of the marble and what it can become.”

The book shows not only the vast range of uses of marble, but also its variety of colors and patterns, bringing the public’s attention to the diversity of the material. “I am so grateful to all of the talented architects and interior designers who contributed to this book. Their spaces and uses of marble are wonderfully diverse,” says Pearse. “I hope that everyone who reads this book will be inspired by these incredible spaces to incorporate marble in artful and creative ways in their own homes.”

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/splendor-of-marble

04/23/2020

"An American Fashion Designer’s Smart, Sophisticated London Flat"

"When American fashion designer Jason Basmajian decided to remain in London full-time, he went on the hunt for a community with a New York vibe. Some 25 years in fashion had this tastemaker moving from his hometown of Boston to New York, Milan, and Paris with regular visits for work in Asia. “I was living previously in Mayfair, but it was not really a community,” he says, looking back. “I wanted a more vibrant neighborhood, and being an ex–New Yorker, I wanted to find a place that had life, diversity, and proximity to green space.” It turned out Kentish Town, in the city’s northwest, fit the bill and was close to the Eurostar railway station for his weekly commutes to Paris.

"Basmajian’s extensive search turned up an industrial building that was in the process of being converted. The designer—drawn to the loft-like feel of the building and the very New York amenities, including a 24-hour doorman and a gym, unusual for London—put in an offer. Soon, he recalls, he was the owner of a brand-new apartment, the building’s first, “stepping over contractors and buckets of plaster.”"

"Stepping into this second-floor apartment, one is greeted with rows of industrial windows and an open-floor plan. “I bought a shell; the idea from the beginning was to create an open space with public and private areas,” he says. The apartment, originally a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, was converted into a two-bedroom, two-bath. Basmajian also removed a wall to create a media space off the main living space. With three exposures, high ceilings, and oak flooring, it’s a loft space with a decidedly grown-up feel."

"Basmajian, who has spent his entire career in fashion, has long been interested in bringing together lifestyle, art, and design. He worked as his own interior designer for this flat and has done other projects for family and friends. (He is also currently advising a new art fair and developing a hotel project on coastal England, an hour from London.) “I want the balance between chic and elegant and comfortable and practical; my style is understated,” notes the designer, whose work is marked by compelling shapes, textures, scale, and surfaces. “I want to create warmth in an interior, I want you to want to be in it.”

"Having moved in about three years ago with his partner, Jamie Wolpert, an entertainment executive, Basmajian filled their space with various collections, including ceramics and photography. “I tend to like works on paper and all art with spatial relationship and architecture,” he says of his taste in photography. “I’m curious.”

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/jason-basmajian-london-flat

04/23/2020

"Tour a Serene Design Oasis Inspired by Japanese Modernism"

"When designer Sandra Weingort sat down to discuss this project with her client Joaquín Mollá, an Argentinian advertising executive and longtime student of Buddhism, he explained that he wanted her to make his New York pied-à-terre into “the home of a 70-year-old man with an affinity for Japanese Modernism, design, and culture.” Though Mollá is relatively young, Weingort understood his vision perfectly.

The two had recently met at his brother’s Miami home, another project of the designer's, where on the tour of that recently completed space, Mollá pointed out all of Weingort’s favorite design elements. Mollá is a design lover, contemporary art connoisseur, and collector of important furniture, Weingort explains, with whom she is aligned stylistically. So much so, that Mollá sent her to two New York apartments and asked her to make the final choice about which one to buy. The designer chose a 1,400-square-foot, two-bedroom space on the Lower East Side with “extraordinary light and height, and so much potential to become a cozy home..."
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https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/sandra-weingort-lower-east-side-apartment

04/23/2020

"To Make the Most of Your Living Room, Take a Page From Jane Austen"

"If one looks back at the way primary rooms were planned in the early 19th century—see everything from scholar Mario Praz’s An Illustrated History of Furnishing to any miniseries adaptation of your favorite Jane Austen novel—family members tended to share a single space where they pursued individual as well as group activities. Reading, singing, playing the piano, doing needlework, conversing: All could be done at once thanks to strategically positioned sofas, chairs, and tables, from large to small; a sensitivity to personal space; and an ability to compartmentalize while communing..." Continued on link

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/living-room-furniture-arrangement-history

04/20/2020