CRAZY STAIRS

Inside the campervan fit for a boy racer

Inside the campervan fit for a boy racer: £55,000 VW pimped up with flatscreen TVs, three electric sunroofs and Porsche alloy wheels

A company that customises VW campervans asked its employees to design their money-no-object, dream vehicle, and this is what they came up with.
A £55,000, state-of-the-art moving palace, with hidden Sony Bravia flatscreen TVs, rear-view camera, and ultra-high spec entertainment system.
The iconic VW Type 2 campervan has been customised by Bristol-based Danbury Motorcaravans, and costs twice the price of their average camper.

Pimp my ride: The Project 1 VW campervan boasts a host of features to justify its £55,000 price tag

Built as a one-off for fun, the van dubbed Project 1 has everything those who pimp vans for a living would want in their ultimate vehicle.
It comes with all the usual campervan regulars like a galley kitchen, comfortable seats and a bed, but also has top of the range features including two flatscreen TVs, three electric sunroofs, four swivelling chairs and Porsche alloy wheels.
The van also boasts super-bright headlights, a custom white, black and orange paint job, and a hidden king-size bed, while the whole chassis has been lowered to just a few inches off the floor.

 

The £55,000 van boasts a sleek kitchen with fridge, cooker and sink, plus a king-size bed and flatscreen TVs

The original vans were called Type 2, following on from their first offering the Type 1, which is better known nowadays as the Beetle.

Production in the UK stopped in 1967 but continued in South America, and Brazil is the only country in the world still manufacturing Type 2 campervans.
Danbury sells customised Type 2 campervans which cost from around £27,000.

 

 

Ultimate in downsizing

Ultimate in downsizing: The £17,000 micro-house that covers just 65sqft and has a kitchen, bedroom and shower

The wooden Diogene house has a living space of 2.5 metres by 3 metres

Its interior is split in two and has a living room, shower, bed and storage

Diogene was created by the architect who designed The Shard in London

The energy-efficient micro-house is available to buy for £17,000

Italian architect Renzo Piano, famous for designing The Shard skyscraper in London, has created a micro-house called Diogene, pictured. It covers only 65sqft, can fit into the back of a lorry and comes with a kitchenette, shower and bedroom.

 

The interior is split into two halves with a living room in the front, consisting of a pullout sofa, folding table, chairs and storage. The rear of the house, situated behind a partition, is a small kitchen with electric stove and fridge, a shower and toilet, and more storage.

The Diogene house pictured from above. The £17,200 building has a front and back door. It is 12ft tall and the bed sleeps a person up to around 6ft tall

Energy for the appliances in the kitchenette is captured by solar panels fitted to the roof.
The structure also has a water collection system that captures rainwater and harvests it into drinking water.

 

 

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2380727/Renzo-Piano-designs-17-000-Diogene-micro-house-covers-just-65-sq-ft-fit-lorry-kitchen-bedroom-shower-storage.html

Pictured: The three best homes built in America in 2012 (one even comes with a living room IN a forest)

The American Institute of Architects announced the winners of the 2013 AIA/HUD Secretary Housing Award with the top prize going to a contemporary-styled home in Orca Islands, Washington State.

At the request of the artist owner Marie Gladwish, who also happens to be the mother of architect Gary Gladwish, the home utilizes its natural backdrop and even comes with a living room in the woods.

 

A sliding panel door separates the outside from the inside

The two other top contenders also made the most of their natural surroundings in California and Colorado and both have pools that can be used year-round.

The hilltop location offers incredible views of the Canadian Gulf Islands

LED and compact fluorescent lights are used throughout the home

The voting body for the American Institute of Architects appreciated the 'Zen-like' quality of the home 

 

The second-place home known as Halls Ridge Knoll is on a site formerly a cattle ranch and now a prime vacation retreat in the Santa Lucia Preserve.
Stone, timber and glass were all used for home that overlooks the San Clemente Mountains.
Perhaps the most unique feature to the home the sliding doors which open out onto a wood-paneled deck. Because of California's unique weather, the outdoor pool is also a solid year-round feature.

 

California climate is enviable this is a heated pool

 

Wood used for this deck was salvaged from a nearby barn

The home provides astonishing views of the San Clemente Mountains

In third place is a 2,850 square foot home in Colorado that features three bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen area that overlook the Rocky Mountains.
A solar thermal system operates the pool, spa and outdoor area which has a fireplace and a retractable movie screen.
The smart house with its high array of sensors is over thirty percent more energy efficient than comparable homes nearby.

The unique roofing structure has the home blending in to the scenery
 

Smart programming sensors keep the home energy efficient

 

An outdoor fireplace accommodates many of those chilly Rocky Mountain nights

The heated pool has views of the surrounding mountain terrain

 

London top hotel open doors to five-star nursery suite...

A top London hotel has unveiled a luxury nursery suite fit for royalty after being inspired by the imminent arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's firstborn.
The Grosvenor House hotel - located on Park Lane opposite Hyde Park - has collaborated with bespoke royal nursery designers Dragons of Walton Street to design the room, which has seen one of the luxury hotel's Premium Park View suites transformed into a nursery, designed and tailored with a certain royal baby in mind.
Dragons of Walton Street has a historic association with the Royal family, with Princes William and Harry and their cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie all growing up in Dragons nurseries.
And now, we have been granted an exclusive video tour behind the closed doors of the hotel's take on a royal nursery just before it opens to the world.

 

Is this Britain's most fun office...

Is this Britain's most fun office... or its most irritating? 'Forward-thinking' IT company has helter skelter, tree house and a putting green installed

This office may be the most fun in Britain as it comes kitted out with a giant helter skelter slide, a tree house and even a pub.

The unique workplace also boasts a pool table, a putting green, a giant swing and a cinema.

Office designers Space & Solutions were tasked with turning a former pub in Southampton into the home for IT company, Peer 1 Hosting.

 

Dita Von Teese's Gown: A 3D Printed Dress

The world of fashion has already brought 3D-printed dresses into the fold, but we don't remember ever seeing one quite like this: a fully-articulated, 3D-printed gown with nearly 3,000 joints, allowing it to delicately drape and seductively flow with the curves of the woman who wears it. In this case, it's burlesque star and model Dita Von Teese donning the nylon dress, which was crafted exclusively for her by design studios Francis Bitonti and Michael Schmidt. Von Teese modeled the dress at the Ace Hotel in New York City.

 

The gown is adorned with over 12,000 Swarovski crystals and designers claim follows the Fibonacci Sequence in the way it curves around a woman's body, in order to maximize its theoretical beauty. 17 distinct sections were 3D printed by 3D printing service Shapeways, with "thousands of unique components... in a flowing mesh designed exactly to fit Dita's body." Find more explanation of the process in the videos below, and more pictures of the dress at our source links.

 

 

HOW THE DRESS IS MADE

http://vimeo.com/61198985