The Local Project (December 3, 2024): Located in Anglesea on Victoria’s surf coast, Burnt Earth Beach House is an architect’s own home inspired by nature. Architect John Wardle designs a holiday home deeply embedded in its landscape, grounded in an enduring love of terracotta, a fascination with ceramics and the unique beauty of bricks.
00:00 – Introduction to the Architect’s Own Home 01:48 – Walkthrough and Layout of the Home 03:18 – The Material Palette 04:48 – The Bathing Spaces 06:12 – Unique and Favourite Moments 07:16 – Creating A Special Place
As an architect’s own home inspired by nature, Burnt Earth Beach House reflects the hues and tonality of the ochre-coloured cliff edges of Anglesea just beyond. “It was very important that we do something here that would transcend time but do so in a way that is completely different from our homes in Melbourne,” says John Wardle, founding partner of Wardle. The home’s facade is expressed through an invented brick developed alongside brickmaker Klynton Krause.
The process involved extrusion and hand tearing the brick surface prior to cutting, which exposes a raw, uneven surface, making every brick unique. Approaching the architect’s own home inspired by nature, a courtyard acts as an informal living zone and is bordered by a kitchen that houses a vast square central terracotta island bench. The space then bends around into the dining area with a reading nook that looks into the courtyard. Upstairs, a study appears to float overhead, enveloped in a hand-knotted screening from Vietnam.
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Country Life Magazine (November 20, 2024): The latest issue featuresWinston Churchill – The wit and wisdom of the great man…
‘Let us go forward together’
As we approach the 150th anniversary of Sir Winston Churchill’s birthday, Amie Elizabeth White and Octavia Pollock pay homage to the great man, in his own words.
Entertaining His Majesty
In the second of two articles, John Goodall charts the 1560s and 1620s expansion of Apethorpe Palace in Northamptonshire
Landscape of ‘seamless sameness’
England’s heather moorland and its glorious purple swathe is a wonder of the Western world, suggest John Lewis-Stempel
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
Do you know a Yonerywander from a Vinvertuperator? Engage your inner Edward Lear as Daniel McKay welcomes you into his wacky world of whimwondery
Wibble wobble, wibble wobble, jelly made of paint
Food, glorious food is fuelling the creativity of modern still-life artists discovers Catriona Gray
Sex, lies and sewing machines
The sewing machine rose to be an emblem of domesticity, but its invention is a story of Saints and Singers. Matthew Dennison follows the thread
Interiors
Raze to the ground or renovate? Has the open-plan layout had its day? Cart shed or garage? Giles Kime considers some key architectural conundrums
Wisley reinvented
John Hoyland is captivated by the spectacular transformation of Piet Oudolf’s double borders at the RHS garden in Surrey
Some like it hot
If you like your chili ‘hotter than the hinges of hell’, Tom Parker Bowles has just the dish for you (and there’s not a bean in sight)
Wooden walls restored
John Goodall lauds a decade-long project to rescue a unique painted church at Ursi, Romania
The Local Project (November 12, 2024): Inside an iconic mid-century home designed by Steven Harris Architects, Palm Springs Residence is a study in restraint, honouring both the existing structure and the work of those who came before. This sensitive renovation reimagines the original house, known as Charney House, designed by Donald Wexler in 1956.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the Iconic Mid-century Home 00:52 – The Original Plan and Inspiration 02:18 – A Minimal Layout 02:48 – The Afternoon Light and Vibes 03:46 – A Very California House 04:05 – Proud Moments
“Wexler was brilliant, with an extraordinary sense of syntax and grammar; everything lines up with everything,” says Steven Harris, partner at Steven Harris Architects. Interestingly, Harris and his partner bought the house accidentally. “We were helping another friend with their house and fell in love with the place,” recalls Harris. After spending time inside an iconic mid-century home designed by Wexler, Harris’s vision was rooted in preserving as much of the original as possible. “Almost everything here is original to the house,” he notes. “For me, the greatest liability would be for someone to drive by on the street and immediately say, ‘oh! that’s a Steven Harris house.’”
Alterations inside the iconic mid-century home designed by Wexler were largely stylistic and inspired by a Wassily Kandinsky painting. “If you look at it from the air, you will see flashes and curves and various shapes, which on one hand is quite graphic, and on the other, almost every view is perspectival because the things you’re looking at are only oblique. Things shift off of each other in a very curious and interesting way.” Stepping inside an iconic mid-century home designed by Wexler, the front door is indicated by a covered passage, flanked by an oblique terrazzo sidewalk extending from the driveway.
Cabana Magazine (November 8, 2024): “I believe in the future of Venice, otherwise I would not do this job,” says curator and restorer Toto Bergamo Rossi, speaking to Cabana from the spectacular surroundings of the X.
The director of Venetian Heritage is protecting and preserving his native Venice for future generations, always working within the architectural fabric of the historic water-locked city.
“I find that the ego of the architect who restores [these buildings] must disappear, never trying to compete with what’s over 300 years old, ever,” he tells Cabana. “Because we are temporary, but this remains.” Join Cabana Films and Toto Bergamo Rossi on a journey through Venetian heritage, as he paves the way for the city’s future.
The Local Project (July 26, 2024): Inspired by structures found near New Zealand’s Southern Alps, The Shepherd’s Hut is the worlds most secret home. The minimalist house – designed by Fearon Hay in collaboration with interior designer Paul Kennedy – sits comfortably in the landscape while offering a flexible set of interiors.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction to the World’s Most Secret Home 01:07 – Behind the Design and Name 02:31 – The Arrival Sequence 02:58 – A Playful and Relaxed Brief 04:29 – The Floor Plan and Layout 06:25 – The Interior Material Palette 07:59 – The Exterior Material Palette 08:48 – Proud Moments
Settled on the Wānaka lakefront, the worlds most secret home is often in the path of cold wind crossing from Makarora. “When there are storms, you can feel very alone, but with the warmth of the fires, my two dogs rugged up with sheepskin, you essentially become a shepherd,” says Matt Chapman, custodian of the property. “When we created the home, I didn’t want too much space for an abundance of possessions. I’d reached a point in my life where minimalism and simplicity were the ways I wanted to exist.”
While maintaining a minimalist focus, the design brief for the project proposed a spatially flexible home that enables new experiences. “When we encountered the site, it was an opportunity to build a structure with length,” says Tim Hay, architect at Fearon Hay. “We liked the idea of a very simple silhouette … we wanted the building to have a sense of retreat and integration with the landscape.”
On the morning of Wednesday, November 6th, Donald J. Trump was elected, for the second time, as President of the United States. For the cover of the November 18, 2024, issue, Barry Blitt depicted Trump’s looming silhouette—a reminder that a second term, though bound to include more moves from his all too familiar far-right playbook, will also undoubtedly usher in a new era of unprecedented extremism and intensified uncertainty in America.
Donald Trump’s Revenge
The former President will return to the White House older, less inhibited, and far more dangerous than ever before
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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