World’s Coolest Houses and We’re Not Talking Arctic Here
The Coolhunter, a wildly-popular design blog, is at this very moment compiling its second book, The World’s Coolest Houses for December release. It’s sure to be a dizzying compendium of highly unusual homes.
Says Bill Tikos (the Coolhunter himself), “The houses we want must think like Zaha Hadid who said ‘I like architecture to have some raw, vital, earthly quality.” Photographs may be submitted for consideration to bill@thecoolhunter.net.
Accommodation by Design: Which Bali House Can Make the Cut?
It’s a new website for the traveller who puts design excellence on the top of their priority list for holiday accommodation. Ok, so you have the budget to travel where and how you wish. Why should you stay somewhere that is less beautiful than your own homes? Why should you suffer from the mediocre aesthetic experience most five-star luxury resorts serve up? Go to Ultimate Hides.
Properties offered for rent on the site are published masterpiece homes designed by the likes of Tadao Andao, Ken Latona, Justin Long Pike Withers, and Philip Cox.
This elite travel newcomer so far handles properties in Australia, China, Japan and Switzerland. Selective global expansion is certain, but if you want your property listed it must meet Ultimate Hides’ stated criteria: “important architectural design, sustainability, privacy, artistic merits, inspirational virtues, natural environment”. So who in Bali makes the grade? I’m waiting with bated breath to see the first Bali property on Ultimate Hides. To get listed go to their sign-up page.
Best-Looking Bali Villas Site
Maison Bulle was Pierre Cardin’s kinky bubble house near Cannes where he welcomed the bright young things of Europe during his heyday. Now the name of Cardin’s Cannes crash pad has been recycled by a French expat for her super stylish website showcasing super special rental villas in Bali. There’s a double entendre in the name that only Indonesia expats would understand. White expats here are called bule meaning “albino”, usually an albino cow, which is basically a derogatory term like “nigger”. Western-style houses are known as rumah bule. Drop one “l” from “Bulle”, and there you have it.
Maison Bulle offers a collection of properties that are not your ordinary luxury villas. These are the kind of places one usually finds out about only from close friends. All of the properties are idiosyncratic, charming private homes created by people with a creative bent. Some are rustic and simple, others cushy colonial-style places that recall something out of Somerset Maugham. None are standard-issue, generic luxury rentals, so don’t expect predictability, expect the unexpected. In selecting properties for inclusion Maison Bulle declares, “Character is our selective criteria.”
The site also features pages on Bali’s ne plus ultra options for dining, nightlife, shopping and activities. This is a godsend for we long-term Bali residents who are constantly being asked by friends-of-friends about everything Bali, especially places to stay. It can be a bit tedious. It was exactly this which motivated the creation of Maison Bulle. According to their very well written site:
Maison Bulle was born out of a phone call. A call repeated year after year, always the same:
“Would you know of a house….for friends, friends of friends, relatives coming to Bali for a holiday? Something nice, great, haven like…’
“These requests, of course, did not come unwarranted: a renowned and lasting relationship with the island, a discerning taste for beauty, comfort, great food and hospitality sent them forth. Thus the idea for an open ‘rolodex’ came about… giving easy access to those of you who share our taste and sensibility in your search to experience the perfect holiday.
We Dig Kundig
Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen is one of my favourite architecture firms. So of course I am delighted that OSKA partner, Tom Kundig has won the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award 2008 in the architecture category. Bravo, Tom. His work and that of his partners and associates in this Seattle-based firm has been applauded by Seattleites for decades. Now the wide world is discovering OSKA. And Tom even got to visit the Whitehouse recently in connection with the award.
Inside story: I once worked as an intern for Olson/Walker. (That was the old OSKA. Call it OSKA v.1.0.) Their office was in the historic Pike Place Market building, and they had a life-size fibreglass horse in the reception area. I was deeply inspired by the place, the energy, the people, the workstyle, and their work. OSKA is a trove of talent. I wonder if the horse is still with them?