Meet the New Smeg 50’s Retro Style Small Home Appliances

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Meet the New Smeg 50’s Retro Style Small Home Appliances
Sustainable and Playful Two-Storey Beach House Near the Atlantic
Monument Valley : A Game That Lets Tou Play With Impossible Architecture
Exclusive Dining Within a Former Chapel: Good Food is the New Religion

Posted: 09 Apr 2014 03:49 AM PDT

Italian manufacturer Smeg needs no introduction – a cheerful brand keeping vintage dreams alive through modern technology. Their latest small home appliances designs complete the lovable Smeg 50's Retro Style collection. Bright colors and a curvacious visual appeal was spotted by WSGN Homebuildlife at Milan Furniture Fair 2014. Inspired by the homey feeling of a 50s, Smeg’s distinctive design and quality brings curvacious shapes to your kitchen.

The decade’s glamor was borrowed to showcase respect and love for quality and history. These rounded kitchen accessories can visually improve the domestic space, alongside large home appliances like refrigerators and freezers, fires, dishwashers and washing machines with the same retro design lines. The kettle, slice toaster, blender and stand mixer are available in a wonderful range of colors and made for “a kitchen full of creativity”. “Curved and compact products, star characters of the kitchen, developed for people who want to dabble at being a chef, but not only.” Don’t you just absolutely love them?

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Sustainable and Playful Two-Storey Beach House Near the Atlantic

Posted: 09 Apr 2014 01:19 AM PDT

Dreaming of a sunny beach near the Atlantic? How about moving into a house that mirrors the freedom of the ocean? We’ve spotted the Sea project, a gorgeous two-storey beach house designed by West Chin Architect. Located in Long Beach, NY, USA, the 5,500 square foot property overlooks the fickle waters of the Atlantic creating special soothing atmosphere. Residents can enjoy spectacular sunsets and explore visually the ocean’s shimmering shroud. The dwelling with a strong connection with the outdoors is the first of its kind to be built with environmentally conscious BBS wood structural panels from Austria.

“These panels let a minimal floor slab thickness and substantial spans, and in the exact same breadth supplies insulation value. The BBS acts as the interior and / or exterior finishes in a lot of situations this was a warm balance to the vast quantity of glass on the façade and the exposed reinforced thermal concrete wall.” The coolest thing about these panels is that they are fireproof and have excellent sound-insulating properties. Other sustainable features include roof solar panels that place power back on the grid during week days, when the house is not in use. Interior feels airy and uncluttered, offering unobstructed views of the surrounding site and encouraging inhabitants to make the utmost of their free time. The living area comes with numerous terraces and lounge areas and can be fully opened when needed, due to the large expanses of glass that replace the walls. Living room is connected to the kitchen and dining area and it accommodates a fireplace and a cement wall adorned with a cute sculptural installation mounted over the stairwell.

Kitchen details elegance and grace Sustainable and Playful Two Storey Beach House Near the Atlantic

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Monument Valley : A Game That Lets Tou Play With Impossible Architecture

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 01:35 PM PDT

Usually here at Freshome we don’t write about Iphone / Ipad games, but today we’ll make an exception because we found a game that every architect or design lover should play. Monument Valley is a brand new game for iPhone and iPad that launched on the App Store last week and it turns out that we absolutely love it and we had to write about it. The game puts you in control of a tiny avatar named Ida, who you move through various temples and castles, each with its own uniquely impossible construction. Viewed from a fixed isometric perspective, the buildings conceal all sorts of perspectival trickery, like staircases that lead upward to corridors below them. In addition to controlling Ida, you also control the buildings, raising platforms and pillars and spinning corridors into place.

The game grew from a piece of concept art created early last year by Ken Wong, an art director at Ustwo. The isometric view, he says, "makes the game more about the architecture and less about the character." Indeed, while Ida provides an excuse to move from place to place, the main attractions are the monuments–ingenious creations that fit together with satisfying precision, rendered in an attractively simple visual style.

The puzzles in this game are logical once you get the hang of the premise, and the touch to walk experience makes it simple to control and play. This is a game about making you scratch your head, only to realise that the answer is staring you in the face all along. By moving one piece of the world in front of you, the mind-bending properties of the patterns reveal themselves and the puzzle can be solved.

The eureka moments that pepper each of the ten levels are always accompanied by a warm smile, and even though you’ll finish everything within an hour or so, it’s an experience that lingers in the very best way.

Finally the Monument Valley experience is very well put together, a surreal exploration through fantastical architecture and impossible geometry, soundtracked by a dreamy mesmerising score. Whether you are new to games or an old hand, Monument Valley is a pleasure to play and you’ll relish and enjoy every brief fleeting moment.

The game was released Thursday, April 3, and goes for $3.99 in the App Store. An Android version is on the way. If you think that $3.99 is a lot for a game we can tell you that those $3,99 were the best money we ever spent on an Iphone game. You can watch the launch trailer below for a look at the game’s puzzles and visual style.

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Exclusive Dining Within a Former Chapel: Good Food is the New Religion

Posted: 08 Apr 2014 09:57 AM PDT

The church restaurant Exclusive Dining Within a Former Chapel: Good Food is the New Religion What would you say if the coolest spot to have dinner would be… a former chapel? I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely want to try something like this at least once in my life! And since peculiar seems to be the word that describes best the images below, let’s see what does this place has to offer. Welcome to The Jane restaurant, a spectacular spot in Antwerp, Belgium, that promises to all its guests an astounding culinary experience. So good food is the new religion, after all! But it’s not only the food itself that will make you go “yumm”. Take a look at the crazy décor and start praying! The Amsterdam-based studio, Piet Boon revamped an old military hospital church, creating the perfect setting for exclusive dining.

From dramatic modern design features (such as the imposing sculptural chandelier designed by .PSLAB) to the peeling paintwork (preserved in perfect conditions) and patterned tile floors, the restaurant combines a vintage design line with gorgeous contemporary elements. The result? A unique place where fine dining meets rock ‘n’ roll. The interior abounds in natural stone, oak wood and leather furnishing. An intriguing light installation in the shape of a grinning skull overlooks the dining area. The chapel’s former alter accommodates now the kitchen. Basically, this is where the magic happens. Embraced by glass, it allows guests to assist at the “ritual” of cooking and preparation of dishes. I tell you, this must be the reconciliation place that brings together angels and demons. So dears, is it just me or this sounds like one hell of a gourmet experience at heaven’s doors?