Karl Schultz

“The interest of this work lies in its simplicity,” LLaumett says. “The intelligence of the house depends on its placement and the materials that maximize its efficiency.”

Florida Street is a minimal warehouse interior located in London, England, designed by Paper House Project. According to the architects, before being converted into a large open plan live/work unit nearly ten years ago, this former garment factory in Bethnal Green had been used as commercial offices. The challenge; how to retain the feeling of an open plan arrangement whilst creating defined areas and adding a second bedroom. By opening up the enclosed stairwell and incorporating the vertical circulation into the central atrium we were able to add space, light, and volume to the main living areas. Glazing is used throughout to bring natural light deeper into the floor plan with obscured glass panels forming room dividers to create bathrooms and bedrooms. The glazed atrium visually connects both floors whilst separating public and private spaces.

Valhalla is a minimal residence located in London, England, designed by Denizen Works. Denizen Works were commissioned to transform the front elevation of a tired house in Highgate to complete a triptych of varied architectural approaches. Adjacent to our clients’ property there are two widely acclaimed pieces of contemporary residential design. Our clients had grown weary of comparison to their neighbors and asked Denizen Works to give new life to their street elevation converting it from a tired piece of mid-twentieth century modernism to a contextual and poetic piece of architecture. Viewed from up or down the hill, the new elevation appears closed, but on moving past the house, a ghost of the original house is visible. The project references the nearby Highgate cemetery and plays on the reflective material qualities of the immediate neighbor. The charred larch creates a contrast between the two properties, one reflecting the living trees opposite and ours clad in black, traumatized wood.

JINS Ageo Shop Renovation is a minimal space located in Tokyo, Japan, designed by Schemata Architects. The interior design was intended to emphasize the effect of exposing the skeleton of the building. New interior walls were offset from the original wall lines, finished with brick tiles usually used for exterior finishes; shelves and display furniture were designed as independent elements detached from the building. Eyewear products vary in shapes and colors, and the designers collaborated with the graphic design office KIGI to introduce visual elements in the shop so that the products and the space can relate to each other in a free and independent way.

Narin Chair is a minimal chair created by England-based designer David Irwin. The elegant design features a smooth sweeping transition from the turned oak legs into the formed backrest, which also doubles as the mount for the pivot from where the back leg rotates. The seat and back are formed from layered birch ply with an oak veneer with an oiled finish and stainless steel fixings. The fixings contained on the underside of the chair slide along the grooves within the back legs to present a graceful silhouette with clean flowing lines, which looks as good folded away for storage as it does when open and in use.

Architect Tom Kundig’s assignment was simple enough: Build a tiny, Thoreau-like getaway for an Atlanta-based writer who owned ten acres on San Juan Island in Puget Sound. "The idea was not to clutter anybody’s thinking, especially a writer’s," he said. So he designed a 500-square-foot retreat that’s both womblike and open to its surroundings.

Inspired by the different movements in modern art, this West London House by award-winning interior design firm Studio MacLean has a streamlined, minimalist aesthetic.