New Terra Sink Design From Gore Design Co. Who Brought Us The Erosian Sink.

Years ago, I shared the stunning Erosian sink made of eco-friendly concrete by Brandon Gore and Gore Design Company. Since then, I have updated info and images of the Erosian Sink as well as a sneak peek at their newest sink, the Terra Sink.

The Concrete Kitchen by Martin Steininger Wins The 2012 Red Dot Design Award.

Steininger designs for several manufacturers such as Boffi, Living Divani and Porro. They have received the prestigious Red Dot Design award for the newest of their designs, The Concrete Kitchen, assigned by a 30-member expert jury. Creative heads and manufacturers from all over the world submitted a total of 4,515 designs to the renowned product competition. With its fine design language and appealing looks, the concrete kitchen received the globally sought-after red dot design award.




The innovative kitchen is made of ultra-thin 8 mm concrete, which is sturdy yet light. Concrete's heat resistance and food safety make it a material perfectly suitable for kitchens. The manufacturing of it, however, requires a certain know-how and commitment to accuracy.




Every step of the process demonstrates handmade craftsmanship; the form-work is precise; the elaborate finishing is characterized by exact dressing and polishing of the stone.





The combination of solid wood in both the seating area and interior shelving and the integrated fresh herbal beds create a juxtaposition which is interesting and optically appealing.






Design: Martin Steininger

E-Mail: office@steininger-designers.at
Homepage: www.steininger-designers.at

Modern Concrete & Steel Ping Pong Table Doubles As Indoor/Outdoor Dining Table.

James De Wulf of DeWulf Concrete has created a modern new usable ping pong table that also makes for a beautiful indoor or outdoor dining table.



Made to regulation size, the Ping Pong table dimensions are 9’ by 5’ by 30”; and can actually be used for Ping Pong, with acid etched lines that will last as long as the table and a smooth surface that provides a great “bounce”.






The table is also ideal for outdoor use because the components are impervious to moisture, salt air and freeze thaw cycles. However many have expressed a preference to use the table indoors because of its clean, simple beauty, and its smooth, buttery feel.



The stately table is defined by its top which appears to float above the legs. Incredibly thin at one inch, the table top is the culmination of all of DeWulf’s expertise in working with concrete compounds.




To put this in perspective, normal concrete would have to be nearly nine inches in thickness to achieve the same strength and durability of the one inch top that DeWulf has developed for this table.


above: James de Wulf

DeWulf Concrete is a small design operation creating avant-garde, concrete-couture for architects, interior decorators, commercial retail stores, and residential clients.

DeWulf Concrete
2834 Colorado Ave. #9
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Bookends For Letter Lovers. A-Z Cast Concrete Bookends by Jochen Korn.

The “A-Z” bookend series from the designer Jochen Korn are manufactured from special concrete and weighing roughly 2.5 kg each so they not only provide a charming optical frame for supporting light books and magazines, but offer reliable support to illustrated books, encyclopaedia and heavy collections of books.




Cast as six different bookends, each featuring four letters:








The special sophisticated cast procedure used to work the concrete material makes each bookend is unique, with a surface structure that differs slightly from all the others. The bookends are mounted on a stainless steel base with a non-slip rubber underside that protects surfaces.

The Red Dot Museum shop sells the “ABCD” and “WXYZ” for 49,90 € each.
Buy them here.

You can also purchase the entire set of all six from Korn. Learn more here.
Or contact Korn directly:(05 61) 45 06 51 03

Designer: Jochen Korn
Versions: “ABCD” and “WXYZ”
Material: Special concrete, stainless steel, sponge rubber
Size: 215 mm x 70 mm x 70 mm
Weight: 2.5 kg
Manufacturer: Korn Produkte, Kassel, German

The bookends come in a high-quality and sturdy gift box.

India's House With Balls. A Modern Residence & Fish Farm.

I realize the title of this blog post reads like some sort of odd sexual euphemism, but the truth is it's a about an unusual modern home in rural Ahmedabad, India which is used as both a weekend residence and a place for the owner to raise fish. And yes, the balls, which are concrete weighted baubles, are an integral functional piece of the architecture and serve as the pulley system for the concrete shutters. Hence the name of the project by the Gujarat, India based architecture firm Matharoo Associates, "House With Balls."




text from GA houses 110, May 2009:

Scooped out of a plot of farmland twenty minutes outside Ahmedabad city, this house has been built for an aquarium shop owner to function as a place to breed fish as well as to serve as a weekend retreat.

Its design is centered around four fish breeding tanks and an observation room which could double up as a living room.






Every aspect of this design is set out to strip expense from the project; be it using 125mm thin concrete walls with standard concrete, one duct space for its three bathrooms, doors and windows made by pressing GI sheets or using bent rods to function as a handle and locking aldrop.



On approaching the entry from the country lane one finds the entrance nondescript and hidden in the scrub. The mandatory margin required is used for the tank space – while the walls of the plot and house are used as a retention structure for the tanks. These tanks are enclosed by glass windows which runs the entire length of the living space, the added bonus being that the glass works out cheaper than a concrete wall, more so for aquarium manufacturers!



On entering the house one steps up into a corridor opening to a small powder room on the left, followed by a choice to either take the left into the bedroom, or to carry on down directly into the long living space.







The layout of the house is such that several differing views of the water bodies are provided; in the bedroom space, the sitting ledge is just above the water level and looks down the long length of the pools; while the living space affords the inhabitant an uninterrupted view over the tanks when the windows are open, and view of the fish through below-the-sill glass windows.



Resting half-sunken under the ground level, negating the need for foundations, the long concrete-box house splits the plot space into two distinct yet continuously mingling spaces; it opens on one side to the garden and to the 49,000 litre fish breeding tanks on the other.



The living area can be opened to either of these two spaces by top hung metal shutters which extend at eye level through the entire length of the walls. When closed it is a 13m long and 3.6m wide space rendered by the light through the fish tanks.




On opening the shutters this linear space transforms completely into an infinite one perpendicular to its original direction. The metal shutters are held by handmade concrete baubles, the cheapest counterweights possible; they either swing in the wind when windows are partially open or dip out of view into the lily padded pools when the windows are fully open making the house animated in use or even without.



The concrete frame around the window plays multiple roles; as a seat from the garden side, steps for children to climb on from the garden or jump to from the terrace, a weather protection device while also providing a rat & snake proof section. It starts serving as a bar counter with the attached kitchen platform for larger gatherings. The grassy knoll that rises in front of the long opening bears under it a bio-gas plant, 50,000 litres of rain water storage, and an earth heat exchange tube.




Back through the shrubbery and fields the house assumes a squat position; the curving wall to one side allows one to walk up a gentle slope on to the terrace running over the length of the house. The weekenders enjoy the feeling of floating over a bed of lily petals while being weighed down by the baubles.




photos above courtesy of both Matharoo Associates and the very talented London photographer Edmund Sumner.

The plans:

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Design Year: 2003
Construction Year: 2004
Client: Mr. Mahesh Mohatta
Project team:
* Gurjit Singh Matharoo- principal architect
* Hardik Pandit – trainee
Structural Engineer: Mr. Rajendra Singh Matharoo, Matharoo Associates
Interior Designer: Komal Mehta, Matharoo Associates
Landscape Architect: Matharoo Associates
General contractor: Shriram Builders, Ahmedabad
Layout: Living room, bedroom, caretaker’s room, 4 fish breeding tanks, kitchen, 3 toilets, 1 parking.
Structural system: Concrete Raft and Walls
Major materials: Reinforced Cement Concrete
Site area: Approx. 530 m2
Building area: Approx. 130 m2
Total floor area: Approx. 130 m2
Cost of construction: Approx. $100/m2 - $12,000 (in 2005)

Matharoo Associates
24 - E Capital Commercial Centre, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
Phone: +91 - 79 - 26577757 / +91 - 9879543505
Ph/Fax: +91 - 79 - 26576426

Check out some nice images of another wonderful residence by Matharoo Associates, the Ashok Patel Residence at Ahmedabad here.

Learn more about Gurjeet Singh Matharoo and some more of his works in this nice article with lots of images from Archinomy.