Grant Ellis has been the photo editor at Surfer Magazine for 13 years and lives in a quaint beach shack in Cardiff, California with his wife Julie, son Ethan, and daughter Kaia (shown here).
Upstairs, tenants and friends gather outside sculptor Chris Puzio’s apartment.
A vintage Eames rocking chair occupies a corner of the living room.
Clear glass panes set strategically into the otherwise translucent curtain wall expose the mezzanine to fresh air and rear views.
Lisbeth Juul and Laust Nørgaard drew upon their years of experience living on the water to design and build an 860-square-foot floating home in Copenhagen Harbor. The home’s minimal form and furnishings reflect the residents’ desire to downsize following three years on land.
An open plan helps the apartment feel larger. Translucent curtains that act as room dividers, allowing a measure of privacy while still letting light pass through. They also hide the double-stacked Maytag washer and dryer from view.
Graphic designers Ned Drew and Brenda McManus have made their renovated Manhattan apartment a showcase for their collectibles, including a vintage Eames leg splint and a “Wilhelm Tell” poster by Armin Hofmann.
#1 Get things off the counter and consider investing in built-ins.
Since the original kitchen of this Barcelona flat was not functional, the architects built a new one from scratch while preserving the original tiles. “We designed very plain oak cupboards so the floor would be the protagonist,” Eugeni says. Ceiling lamps by Vico Magistretti illuminate the warm wood countertops. A simple shelf with hooks allows storage above and below, and a double-height dish rack grants twice the drying space.
The budget was nearly as tight as the space in this cheerful renovation of a 516-square-foot flat in Bratislava. The centerpiece of Lukáš Kordík’s new kitchen is the cabinetry surrounding the sink, a feat he managed by altering the facing and pulls of an off-the-rack Ikea system. The laminate offers a good punch of blue, and in modernist fashion, Kordík forwent door handles in favor of cutouts. “I wanted the kitchen to be one simple block of color without any additional design,” he says.
The combination dining table/countertop, says Woo, “is both a demarcation and connection between the kitchen and main living space.” Originally, the architect considered a concrete surface, but balked at the delivery time and expense. “I kind of like it as it is built,” he says. “All the horizontal surfaces are wood.” The Conical pendant lamp is by Jorgen Gammelgaard and the Compasso d’Oro bar stools are by Enrico Franzolini.
Arthur carved the Indiana limestone–clad bar out of an awkward space in the hallway.
No room for a built-in bar? Wing it, like architect Cass Calder Smith did in his SoHo apartment, with a modern cabinet, trays to hold bottles and glasses, and a roaring “fire.”Photo by
Brian Finke.
Indoor Sunbathing“In the morning, the eastern light comes into the small terrace by the kitchen,” De Smedt says. “If I have work to do at home, which I do a lot, I’ll sit at the dining table and just look out. And in the summer, I’m out on the terrace. On clear nights, I’ll head upstairs. There’s a skylight and you can see the stars. Even in the city, you totally can! The skylight really changes the condition of the interior. If you light that gap in the evening from the outside, it’s as if there is daylight.”
The Inconstant Gardener“I have a lot of cacti, which is probably because I don’t have a green thumb,” admits De Smedt of his sculptural flora. Inspired perhaps by his neighbors’ greenhouse just across from his patio, the architect’s next project for the apartment involves turning the terrace into something of an oasis—as long as the plants are hardy. “I have an idea to grow some ivy.”
Act 3: ParksOne of the city's—and the world's—most lauded public spaces is the Park Güell. Though the street network of modern Barcelona is very regimented and regular, Gaudi's plan for the 42-acre park is modeled after British landscapes, which favors snaking pathways, unmanicured plantings, and an irregular design that mimics what nature might do if left untouched. It's located in the hilly western section of the Barcelona. Wealthy landowner Eusebi Güell commissioned the plan, which was to include housing for wealthy denizens of the city and was modeled after Ebeneezer Howard's Garden City movement.