Heathcliff's Profile

great find - thanks for the tip on this book. the office interiors look something like a prototype I just created in our offices.

regarding the window height question that others asked commented on... perhaps it stems from the need for light and privacy... or maybe the view is just nasty :)

these types of drive ways make so much more sense. I suppose that in the snow belt this could be a bit of a problem, especially with a steepish grade. I can imagine tires spinning and ultimately digging a nice gouge through that turf. But with a little care this is so much nicer than a great load of asphalt.

@ Comicgeek - I agree with you about fetish making in design. ultimately however design has become so image focused and aestheticized that almost everything is on some level disassociated from it's context and made superficial. while the idea of form resembling function seems like an out, since it relies on function to decide the form, that still ends up being a "style" and therefore an aesthetic... and ultimately just another fetishized image.

with all that said you are on target to both applaud and critique Béhar. The think what is inescapable in his work is that it ultimately becomes about form, ornament, and image - the most superficial aspects of design. The work is more decorative than anything else, so it's really an ornament for a proscribed (or aspired to) lifestyle. It does not mean it's bad, but it's not good either. It's very calculated as a commodity for consumption and image.

wow - I'd definitely live here. the designers have done such an amazing job with their faux work and brilliantly created that distressed look. the open quality is really amazing, i'd love to get the name of the architects. so great when designers can create something that is so real seeming, I mean it looks like an actual ruin! it's all about the details ;)

ummm... the corollary to "some people will buy anything", is "some people will design, produce, and market anything".

which leads to the unavoidable mantra that should be ringing in the ears of designers (and consumers!!) everywhere: just because you can doesn't mean you should.

these are lovely. the smaller more enclosed spaces seem to work better since the edges are more defined and therefore the interior space seems richer against the truncation of walls. The lawn surround does not work as well. The lawn calls attention to itself as being wrong and too well groomed... the effect of the water feature needs to ripple out into the adjacent space - the lawn is just so pedestrian - it needs to become something more like a meadow or moor. perhaps if the owners just stopped mowing it and put some sheep out to munch on it. but all in all very nice. nice inspiration

you know they are all beautiful and they appeal to the tastes of completely different people. my problem is that these all make the mistake of propping up the "kitchen" as an object and therefore a simplistic end in itself. the kitchen for kitchen sake - like the rococo ornament for ornament sake - the result is that they are all ultimately meaningless and hollow. these objects end up only appealing to our need to consume and never provide any real fulfillment.