The Bali Post Makes Me Afraid of Breakfast
I promised to give occasional digests of the local newspaper, the Bali Post. Not to renege on a promise, here is a digest of Tuesday’s paper, by no means a more distressing one than usual. The headlines that drew my attention most were:
- Struggle for Ramadan Gifts Leaves 21 Dead
- Chaos Surrounding Bali’s Assets Created Deliberately
- Regulation Against Communications Towers May Be Revised
- Rights Organisation Demonstrates Against Anti Pornography Bill
- Balinese Crystal Meth Dealer Busted
- Balinese Housekeeper Caught Snatching Boss’ Jewellery
- Bali’s Environmental Breathing Room Shrinking Fast
Indonesian Weapons and Tribal Artefacts at Auction in Köln
On 27 September a large collection of Indonesian weapons will go on the block at the Kunsthandel Klefish auction house in Köln. Such a large and diverse collection of Indonesian kris, swords, daggers and other blades has never before appeared in a single auction. A number of interesting ethnographic objects are also included in the sale, including small sculpture, Javanese masks and an extraordinary wood saddle.
Images, © 2008 Kunsthandel Klefisch GmbH
Q: Why Do Tropical Modern Houses Have to Be So White? A: They Don’t.
Architectural Digest (which normally makes me wince), has done it again – - not made me wince hard, two months in a row. The October issue features in its “Open Auditions” section on upcoming designers, a modern house in Arizona by Tennen Studio.
OMG! It’s not white! It’s a hot climate modern house, but it’s not all white! What a bloody relief.
Too many Bali houses of recent design are going totally albino, and it just doesn’t make sense in a bright-sun environment, nor in a tropical-wet one like Bali. The sun is so intense that no one can approach white houses here without wearing welder’s goggles or risking cataracts. And white houses are a maintenance nightmare here where green slime grows faster than beards in Ramadan.
Quantum Leap: New Directions in Bali Architecture and Design
After yesterday’s post, here’s another glimpse into the future of residential and hospitality design in Bali. (Lots more pictures after the jump.) The first proposed project (below) is a series of villas on a slope facing the sea, with the challenge being how to give every house views without sacrificing privacy. The second is a cluster of fifty villas on a 10 hectare property in Bali’s interior (after the jump). The design brief required placement of villa structures with minimum impact on the landscape, and minimum felling of trees. The resulting design sits light on the land, and invites nature in through transparent walls and takes advantage of the protective forest canopy to reduce energy inputs for cooling. Contact me for links and more information about these proposed projects.
Beam Me Aboard Starship Bali
Several interesting and unusual developments are sprouting in the greater Ubud area. Is this really the dawning of the age of Aquarius, or am I dreaming? Yet I kid you not, these developments are under way in a river valley near you. More images after the jump.
Have a look . . .
. . . there will be eco-eden dining in the “Silent Running Restaurant and Lounge” . . .
. . . close encounters of the earth kind for friends of the space tribe . . .
. . . and earth-faerie bathrooms shall abound.
A Haiku of a Home by Roy McMakin
Last week The New York Times featured a fabulous farmhouse by eccentric designer, Roy McMakin. The article aptly describes McMakin as an “artist-designer based in Seattle, famous for tweaking archetypes of domesticity, from wing chairs to cottages, and blurring the lines between art and architecture in a variety of captivating and disquieting ways.”
Set on an island within commuting distance of downtown Seattle, the featured farmhouse is a contemporary interpretation of the idioms of the region’s rural architecture, which stirs emotional memory for an ex-Northwesterner such as myself. I am reminded immediately of my old house in Seattle, hand-made in 1900 by a Norwegian boatbuilder. McMakin’s poetic recapitulation of the local vernacular also recalls the Scandinavian heritage which has informed rural and urban building in the Pacific Northwest for nearly two centuries.
Tim Girvin on Resort Design, Lautner, Las Brisas Et Alia
Visual and intellectual boundary-breaker, Tim Girvin has begun blogging his brilliance in a series of essays which pierce like bright rays from a distant star, shining through the disparate galaxies of fragrance, film, fashion, architecture, TV, branding, identity, and thought as it is thunk. Girvin is more than a designer, he’s a serendipitous genetic experiment let loose upon the world. Best known as a brand, identity and typography master (Apple, Amex, Bloomingdale’s, Bravehart, Urban Decay, Wolfgang Puck, Yves Saint Laurent, WIRED, The Matrix, and more), Girvin goes where no simply sane design mind has gone before. And he collects fine Japanese bamboo baskets, too.
See his latest blog post, Resort Design Development | Brand, Patterning, Identity, Placemaking | John Lautner, Visions & Las Brisas, MX. Now there’s an essay title for you. Delicious food for thought. Find it at Tim’s place, blog, personal site, agency.
Be Bedazzled: Ancient & Antique Jewelry at the Walters Museum
The jewelry collection of the Walters Museum in Baltimore is vast and diverse, spanning five millennia and a broad spectrum of world cultures, yet most of it is rarely seen. Here’s your big opportunity to ogle over 200 pieces from the collection, many never before shown publicly. Bedazzled: 5,000 Years of Jewelry opens 19 October and runs through 4 January 2009. In this exhibition the riches of the Walters collection will be augmented by numerous finger rings from the collection of New York gemologist Benjamin Zucker, scion of one of the great Antwerp diamond families, who has a passion for antique and ancient rings from around the globe, and has been dubbed “Lord of the Rings” in recognition of his passionate pursuit of fine antique finger rings for his personal collection. Be there. With bells on. And plenty of rings on fingers and toes.
Image © 2006 The Walters Art Museum
Lost Weekend
Friday night was the “Shhh! Speakeasy” dinner fundraiser for the Balinale Taksu Film Festival at the Ritz-Carlton in Jimbaran. What with the illicit teacup martinis on arrival, and brown-bagged bottles of hooch (excellent New Zealand red wine) handed out to every attendee, not to mention the fine works of literature on the tables hiding bottles of vodka . . . we were absolutely reeling drunk. Ooops. When referring to ladies (and I am purported to be one), the correct and polite term is “tired and emotional”. So I was “tired and emotional.” After winning the best-headdress contest and being Charleston-wrestled by Taksu Film Festival mascot, Kadek Krishna, I was fit to be tied.
Sneak Preview: W Retreat & Spa Bali
I blogged last week about W Retreat & Spa Bali, which is a major work in progress on the site of the old Intan Hotel in Seminyak, slated to open September 2009. Starwood Group’s W Hotels division has been very tight-lipped about the whole project, as I mentioned previously. W’s online info on the Bali property and their press materials have been scanty to the point of secrecy. The architects say, “3d images and walk-thru animations for the restaurants are nearing completion. Sorry, no sneak previews.”
Well, here’s a sneak preview of the place from me. The interior shots are from a mockup of a typical unit, and the CAD images are from the original proposed concept (which has most likely undergone a process of evolution over the past year).
I knew the old Intan Hotel well, because I used to live very close to it, and would ride my mountainbike there almost every day to use their gym (cheap membership), swim in the pools, play tennis, and get a massage.