Feng Shui Mini Dwelling Offers Multiple Living Spaces in Compact Cube

Liu Ming is a Feng Shui expert in the Bay Area who lives and works out of his 1,100 sq ft live/work loft apartment. He often teaches class to 30 people in this space and would have to move and juggle his personal furnishings out of the way to make room for students. At the same time, when it was just him in the apartment, it felt too vast and open. With the help of SPACEFLAVOR, a Feng Shui architecture firm, Ming designed a mobile, mini dwelling unit, which contained everything he needed for sleeping, studying and meditating and relied on the principles of yin and yang as a way to balance his personal and professional life.

The steel and plywood living cube was prefabricated in order to fit through Ming’s front door and was assembled on site. A steel frame assembled on top of heavy duty casters and the plywood panels fit into the cube. All the wood used for the project was FSC-certified, formaldehyde free and coated with a natural shellac. The lower level features a simple bed and a study on the opposite side. A set of staircases with hidden storage lead up to the meditation loft and tea room.

Click to read more ...

FORM VIDEO INTERVIEW: Thom Mayne - Artist

For more on inspiration, RSVP to the April 7 issue event panel with Perkins+Will and Friends of the Los Angeles River. A panel discussion will explore how infrastructure impacts the human experience, the environment and the economy. Examples and presenters: FoLAR's Piggyback Yard Conceptual Master Plan created with the PBy Collaborative Design Group (Chee Salette Architecture Office, Mia Lehrer + Associates, Michael Maltzan Architecture, and Perkins+Will); Michael Bohn, AIA, Principal, studioneleven at Perkowitz + Ruth Architects, discussing streetscaping and road diets; Cliff Garten on the integration of architecture, landscape and engineering; and Deborah Weintraub, AIA, Chief Architect, Department of Public Works, Bureau of Engineering on architecture and urban infrastructure.

Moderator will be Jack Skelley, architecture/design/urbanism journalist and FORM contributor.

Please share with colleagues and friends from this post.
The piece is also located on YouTube

A production of FORM Video Services

FORM's 2010 AIA/LA Design Awards Supplement - Jan/Feb Inspiration Issue- Digital Version

Check out the print version in the new Jan/Feb 2011 issue of FORM: pioneering design magazine.

Meet AIA/LA Design Award winners Mehrdad Yazdani, Benjamin Ball, Lorcan O'Herlihy, and Annie Chu at FORM's February 3 Inspiration discussion with Michael Webb. RSVP here.

FORM's Inspiration Issue - January/February 2011 - Sample

<Click on the magazine for full screen view

Sign up for membership and get an industry comp version or premium subscriber version
(Paid subscribers, AIA/LA, ASID/LA, IIDA So Cal, USGBC-LA, A + D Museum members only).

FORM now offers a digital premium subscription of $10.

Please feel free to refer colleagues and people you feel would benefit from the site and the magazine.

Thanks for your support,
The FORM Team

FORM Welcomes Caren Kurlander as New Editor-in-Chief Starting 2011

Editor-in-Chief Caren Kurlander brings more than ten years of experience in consumer shelter publications to the editorial team of FORM. Caren was formerly FORM's Managing Editor since April 2010. Recently, she served as a senior editor for Western Interiors and Design, where she produced and wrote feature stories on projects ranging from a reclaimed stone creamery in Jackson Hole to Michael Keaton’s Los Angeles ranch house. Prior to that, she worked for Architectural Digest, editing the magazine’s Designers Discover Design column. Currently, she writes for Luxe Interiors + Design and is a contributing editor for the online design database The Editor at Large.