If you’re looking for an exceptionally elegant home dining and entertaining experience, this PING-PONG table designed by Hunn Wai combines smooth, heavy planes with the Rococo ordainments of 18th century neo-classical furniture. Both a stylish dining table and an officially-sized ping-pong table, the long, rectangular blossom-filled vase that divides the center can serve as either a charming table floral arrangement or the net for an especially grandiose game of table tennis. When the dining centerpiece of your home is ordained with gold-lacquered Rococo ornamentation and ping-pong iconography, you should insist on more parties in formal wear. In fact, only visitors in formal wear should ever be allowed to eat or play at your table. Really, it’s an issue of design-consistency. [ Via ]

If you are looking for a cool design for your kitchen you might want to see a kitchen that just won an award, the “Good Design Award“, the prestigious award of the Design Athenaeum of Chicago. The design has been awarded to Snaidero for Kube, the latest innovative kitchen by Offredi Design, presented by the company at Eurocucina 2008. The Kube kitchen by Snaidero is a product, that combines innovation, top quality design, simplicity, functionality and strikingly contrasting shapes and materials. Each kitchen from Snaidero is the outcome of in-depth research, which includes socio-cultural trends, product ergonomics and functionality, as well as specific research into new applications for human well being in the kitchen.

The house features all possible rooms needed for contemporary lifestyle. There are garage, laundry, pantry, several bathrooms, kitchen, dining area, office, games room, small library with home cinema, 2 kids bedrooms and master bedroom with walk-in wardrobe. Being modern inside and outside this house is stylish yet comfortable living place.

Dubbed “the disappearing kitchen,” Giorgio Armani’s “Calyx” kitchen is a slick and glossy design with long modern lines and bold, flat accents. Developed with a neat satin finish to give a heavy golden impression, Armani’s kitchen is meant to fold up and neatly fit behind wide doors and large panels, literally vanishing into the simplicity of its design. Created in collaboration with the design studio Dada, the complementary dining tables, refrigerator, dishwater, steam and standard ovens, food warming drawer, gas stove and wine cellar can all be adjusted to hide (as required) behind the panels which have the same finish as the walls. A great concept for a modernist home (especially for those among us with a love for Armani’s signature design style), this kitchen would be a brilliant premise for those interested in entertaining in a high-end modular concept home. [ Via ]

The Modern Space Saving Mini Kitchen from Ensci is great in places where the space is premium. The mini kitchen is quite an invention and will even let you enjoy keeping everything you need at your fingertips. The countertop is movable and slides pretty well to reveal the range, sink, storage, cupboards and even plenty of cabinets. Imagine, all this in just one kitchen unit. When you are not using it, the kitchen closes up, giving a minimalist, streamlined look and some much-needed organization to what is the most-used, most-chaotic room in the home.

Dwayne Macintosh, Deputy Fire Chief at FESTI. commented that; “With the ever changing world and greater consideration being given to the environment, the fact that FESTI is a LEED building helps tremendously with our marketing. In addition, the way in which it is presented is always something that makes an impression on people. The facility has an open, welcoming and modern feel to it which is not normally found in a fire training facility. Both of these aspects continue to wow people when they visit FESTI for the first time.”

The interface of the public rooms with the private rooms is defined by a strong, figurative and literal wall that mitigates between the rigid geometry of the private spaces and the exuberant public spaces. The clarity of the plan and the complexity of the section create volumetric experiences that are dynamic and varied, as are the young and athletic students. Careful consideration was given to the design of the massing, exterior finishes and the lighting sources of the elements for day or night response, given the LEED Silver compliance and the location of the project within an airport, adjacent to a runway and visible from the sky during take-off and landing.

Transparency, permeability and solidity are explored for both practical and aesthetic purposes. The integration of solar shading, a vegetated roof, a thermal solar wall, an integrated heat recovery system using the mass of the concrete and natural ventilation features are identifiable architectural responses to responsible building practices.

This project, completed in January 2007, has become the international insignia of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, Fire and Emergency Services Training Institute and represents their commitment to their students and appreciation of their corporate role as mentor of ecological literacy. The FESTI applies the lessons of ecological and sustainable responsibility in a unique architectural language. This project illustrates that, even at a small scale of building, architecture is a unique vehicle for large scale improvement within the current world crisis. [ Kleinfeldt Mychajlowycz Architects Inc ]

Loft bedrooms aren’t just space savers. Besides their functionality Tumidei made them very cool and fashioned. They have very contemporary design so every modern teenager will stand up among their friends when they see such room.

The new west building alone will add 127,000 sq ft accounting for the new gallery space in 65,000 sq ft of daylit rooms. With galleries on the one storey above ground, operations and mechanical equipment will find their place below in the basement. 230 overlapping and angled anodized panels are used on the exterior and glass curtain walls define each of the five sculpture courts.

In the existing east building three new exhibition spaces will be added totalling 13,200 sq ft accounting for the temporary gallery space. Three newly landscaped acres of land will be accessible by from both the east and west buildings.

The project is a collaboration led by Thomas Phifer and Partners with Pierce Brinkley Cease + Lee Architects as Architect of Record and Lappas + Havener as Landscape Architect. SOM are providing Structural Engineering while Arup are providing the Daylighting Design crucial for the display and preservation of the works.

Due to fully complete in April of next year, the expansion of North Carolina Museum of Art is well under way with the new West Building nearing completion and the East Building scheduled to close for works in the coming September. The $83.9 million expansion is set to increase permanent gallery space by 54%, temporary exhibition space by 45%, storage capacity by 90% and add new classrooms and education spaces. Three acres of newly landscaped sculpture gardens and reflecting pools will also be added and an existing pond renovated.

With the creation of a new Library / Learning Resource Center, the once exclusively vocational college now offers associate degrees, enabling the students to transfer to four-year colleges and universities. Strong formal elements; grand portal, bisecting spine, elegant stair and bridge, play against the structural grid, forming a lively entry courtyard and sculpting the relationship to context and the spatial experience of users.

Squeezed between an existing classroom building and a campus road, the building was forced into an unfortunate orientation, with long east and west sides exposed to solar heat gain and glare. In response, reading rooms are positioned along the West side of the building where a group of mature trees provides ample shade. Glare is mitigated by fritted glass and vertical aluminum fins, which allude to the window pattern of the adjacent Art Deco buildings. Sloping ceilings bring natural light deep into the building over low, perimeter offices and study rooms.

The plan is laid out for maximum flexibility, providing staged use of the building, which allows the community access to the lecture hall and student access to the computer lab for after-hours and weekend use. The Library / Learning Resource Center provides access to the latest technology, a healthy, naturally lit, ecologically sensitive environment, and valuable resources within easy reach of the surrounding community.

In the 1950s, this community college added a classroom wing, food services area, and several vocational buildings to what had been a 1930s Art Deco junior high school campus providing vocational training for the surrounding low-income urban neighborhood. [ Caldwell Architects ]