Founded in 2007 in Chicago’s residential Lakeview neighborhood, dSPACE Studio has become known for its striking, street-smart and sustainable custom residential projects, including urban dwellings and vacation homes. Alongside its distinctive contemporary aesthetic—often marked by generous glass enclosures, Earth tones, and intricately arranged forms—dSPACE is also adept at being multi-faceted, both in their designs that respond to client taste and…
-
-
Six-string attitude
The stage is set: a hush settles over the crowd, smoke curls languidly on the floor, and lights draw eyes and ears to the platform. There is an avid anticipation—a collective intake of breath—as the crowd watches both guitarist and the iconic silhouette held before in an extension and expression of its player. It is an instrument that has defined…
-
Oji Masanori x Mjölk
Solid brass and soft light are the main ingredients in this delicate light fixture created by the Japanese industrial designer Oji Masanori. The Diamond Pendant lamp was conceived for the Toronto-based lifestyle shop and gallery, Mjölk, as part of an exclusive collection, and it was handcrafted by artisans in the city. Fundamentally, the pendant recalls Masanori’s careful attention to form,…
-
Design for Sale: Sommerset Pointe
On Lake Charlevoix in Boyne City, Michigan, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom villa within the Sommerset Pointe Yacht Club and Marina’s lakeside residential collection offers a harmonious combination of lakefront living and active lifestyle. The property, a warm-weather refuge, will arrive on the market soon courtesy of Pat O’Brien and Associates Real Estate, a real estate brokerage firm specializing in northern Michigan’s…
-
Vision, incorporated
With its comprehensive redesign and modern, sophisticated material finishes, a commercial architectural project in Grandville, Michigan, by Mathison | Mathison Architects, has helped reorganize and unify a more than 70-year-old technological brand in the area and its triad of business entities within one transformed building. The companies, comprising Van Dyken Mechanical Inc., Grand Valley Automation Inc., and Mechanical Testing Services…
-
Natural advantage
Since initial records of design in ancient times, there has been evidence of what it is now classified as biomimicry. From the early utilization of silkworms for textile production around 4,000 B.C. and Leonardo da Vinci’s skeletal flying machines in the 1400s to archaic umbrellas inspired by Chinese lotus leaves in the 18th century, designers and inventors continue to turn…
-
Tower work
When heading south along the eastern banks of the Scioto Greenways trail toward the Scioto Mile Promenade in downtown Columbus, a structure clad in Imperial Red granite and bronze-tone glass comes into view set back from the Scioto River’s edge. Nestled into the built landscape, the 1984-built, approximately one-million-square-foot building soars about 512 feet into the air and is visually…
-
Design dialogue
Last year, the IIDA and AIA Chicago unveiled its inaugural discussion series Designers and Architects Talk: A Series About Design and Its Impact on Client Success. The four-part program addresses the commercial interior architecture and design sectors, and after a successful first installment, the series has returned to the IIDA Headquarters in Chicago for 2020, with a variety of new…
-
Movement evolution
Following the landmark merger of the YMCA of Metropolitan Minneapolis and the YMCA of Greater St. Paul in 2012, and creation of the YMCA of the Greater Twin Cities, the Minnesota-based, nonprofit organization looked to move its headquarters to a new location. The site, positioned in the heart of downtown Minneapolis, would not only serve to accommodate its larger staff,…
