Architecture Wednesday: Remmarholmen Island Cabin

Have you ever dreamed of your own island, where timelessly stylish buildings would be ready for you and your friends, where you can find a sheltered place in all wind directions and spend your free time peacefully all year round? This weekend or holiday cabin sits on its own tranquil island just a short distance from the mainland and might be the perfect fit.

Remmarholmen island, just 40 minutes from Helsinki City, Finland, is all that and more.

The buildings—main house, guest house and sauna—all have an atmosphere that lends itself to being close to nature, with wonderful little details. The materials used in the interior—granite, glass, oak and rusted Corten steel—create a harmonious and luxurious feel throughout the three different structures.

The main includes an entire length of glass wall facing the sea, with a great room showcasing a sunken conversation pit and fireplace; the dining room and kitchen, with large pantry, finish off the open plan great room while two bedrooms and one-and-one-half bathrooms complete the plan.

The passage from the main building to the sauna and guest house is made easy with wooden paths made of durable Siberian larch and the large terraces around the buildings offer a quiet place regardless of wind direction. The sauna building features a large sauna with views to the water as well as an additional bathroom, while other building contains a kitchen, dining and living area, and bedroom and bath; perfect for guests. There is a separate storage building for hobby equipment and supplies, along with a sturdy jetty where you can helicopter in if you’re so inclined.

And if the design and details that facilitate island living are carefully thought out so are the property's technical solutions: geothermal energy, a desalination system to obtain drinking water from seawater and a wastewater system that meets today's requirements are all thoroughly thought out. There’s an outdoor shower, gas fireplace, motorized sunshades and outdoor lighting that contribute to the enjoyment of comfortable living.

It’s peaceful and sleek place to get away from it all and can be yours for just a hair over $4M.

As always click to emBIGGERate …

Dwell

Architecture Wednesday: Black House on the Rocks

This custom log home, by Pluspuu, sits on a slab of  bedrock in the Turku archipelago in Finland. It’s the perfect getaway house, not so large at just 1600 square feet, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms ... one with a sea view, and one with a woods view, a kitchen, and a large great room overlooking a 1,000 square feet of decking with amazing views out to sea. In addition to this main house, there is a separate sauna—because it’s Finland, you know—and a two-room guest house sited along the shore.

Pluspuu built the home out of non-settling solid logs with mitered corner joints, so there is no need for insulation. The roof is sheet metal insulated with eco-friendly wood fiber, and the home is heated with geothermal heat distributed via underfloor heating. The carbon footprint of the construction of a log house is extremely small, and the timber will act as a carbon sink for the house’s entire lifespan.

I like the sleek lines and the wide open interior, and the environmentally friendliness of the whole spot, but, yeah, it’s a black house, and I am still trying to convince Carlos to paint our home black, so this is a good example.

But the views …

Click to emBIGGERate …

ArchDaily

A Very Gay Monday!

It’s Helsinki Pride, y’all, and fast-food giants Burger King and McDonald’s are in full gay swing with both The Burger King and Ronald McDonald getting their kiss on. In ads posted all around Finland, entitled “Love Conquers All”, the two fast food icons give a king-on-clown, male-on-male smooch.

The kiss campaign was developed by the Burger King Finland team in creative partnership with TBWA\Helsinki and Virta Helsinki and, ad a statement from Burger King Finland explains, the painting is meant to serve as a celebration of love in all of its forms. And Burger King Finland brand manager Kaisa Kasila adds:

“Burger King has always stood for equality, love and everyone’s right to be just the way they are. The only instance where it might not seem so is when we’re bantering with our competitor. We thought, what a better way to convey our values than by portraying an all-encompassing kiss between Burger King and McDonald. We wanted to show that in the end, love always wins. And we know McDonald’s stands for the values we stand for, too.”

It’s kind of nice to see two mega-chains putting aside their competitive differences for love. And inclusion.

Now, bring it to America!

Architecture Wednesday: Modern Log [and Glass] Cabin

I am not much for the wilderness; my parents used to own a home high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and got a lot of snow each winter. I loved being up there ... inside the house, not out in that mess.

That’s why this house appeals to me; I can sit by a fire and drink red wine and watch the snow. I can wander into the kitchen and whip up a fabulous meal and watch the snow’ I can head up to the loft with a good book and watch the snow.

Get the idea?

This log cabin, located in Central Finland, was specifically designed it in order to withstand frosty winter temperatures of up to -22 ºF, as well as summer temperatures of up to 88 ºF. Oh, that makes watching the snow, and, yeah, the summertime greenery, all the more comfortable.

The walls are made with eight-inch thick laminated timber logs with mitred corner joints. Mimicking a long standing tradition of log cabin building while tying the home to its surroundings. But, better still, in addition to the timber log walls, the home also has expansive glass walls for, as the architect says, “the enjoyment of nature from the safety and warmth of the cozy home.”

Like I said ...

HomeDSGN

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen Comes Out ... And So Does Chandler Whitney

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen wanted to some out for a long time now, but he decided that now is the right time, as the world prepares for Russia’s hosting of the Sochi Olympics.

"I wanted to start a broader discussion in connection with Sochi, because it’s sad that the legislation in Russia restricts the human rights of young people and others. … In the future I would hope that elite athletes and other people will not find homosexuality to be any kind of news." — Ari-Pekka Liukkonen.

Liukkonen, who suffers from mycoplasma, competed at the 2012 Olympics in London and took a bronze medal in the 4x50m mixed freestyle relay at the European Championships in the same year. Liukkonen is now targeting the Rio Olympics in two years, hoping to win the gold in the 50 meter freestyle.

But more importantly than that, he is the first gay Finnish athlete to come out of the closet during his active career because, like a great many gay men and women, he struggled with his orientation, which kept him closeted … until now.

"As the matter wasn’t discussed, I tried to forget about it, but during high school I began to accept that I am made this way. Acceptance hasn’t necessarily been easy, but it hasn’t been horribly difficult either. This has been a long, slow process for me, but now I’m there. It’s a really great feeling that I can finally be myself." — Ari-Pekka Liukkonen.

We are, too, and so we’d like to send you a copy of The Gay Agenda and the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven.

Welcome out, Ari, welcome out, and let’s give you the last word:

"I hope that in Finland we can get to the stage where we don’t need to talk about this anymore as soon as possible. Homosexuality is the same kind of characteristic as whether a person has blue or brown eyes, or whether they are left- or right-handed."

And ....

Chandler Whitney, a baseball player at Walla Walla Community College in Eastern Washington returned to school after his break, and at the team's first practice, Chandler decided to tell his teammates how he spent his vacation ... which was with his boyfriend, the newly out Conner Mertens of Willamette University [see Connor's coming out HERE].

At that first practice, Chandler stood up in front of the team, said he had contemplated whether to tell them a secret or not, and shared a "confession" he'd been holding back from them since they first met:

"I'm gay."

The team broke into spontaneous applause. It took Whitney off-guard:

"Being where I am in eastern Washington, it's not the response I expected. I'm in Walla Walla, there's not a lot of open-mindedness on the surface."

But there is now, it seems, so Welcome Out Chandler, and please accept on our behalf, a copy of The Gay Agenda and, yes, the Obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven.

And congratulations on the boyfriend. You make an adorable couple.

Welcome out.

Ari-Pekka Liukkonen Comes Out

Chandler Whitney Comes Out