The NUVALI community development in Sta

Rosa Laguna paves the way for sustainable eco-living. What brought about this initiative by Ayala Land to build the first sustainable community in the Philippines, is actually the desire to nurture the people who will live in it. At the core of it all, sustainable living is all about nurturing it's people – that means having a healthy relationship with our living environment through conscious evo-living.

I have been to Nuvali several times on family occasions whenever we feel like trying out something different. Malling can be pretty tiring, with all the white noise and visual overload, so on lazy weekends, the family goes to Nuvali for a breath of fresh air. Kids love the koi fish feeding and boat ride at the man-made lake. Personally, I love to take a walk on the jogging path that goes around the lake and after, breakfast at the nearby Starbucks coffee shop. It can get pretty windy there with all that wide open space, which is perfect for flying a kite. They also have bicycles for rent that you can use on the same wide jogging path. After all the activities, I just love to take a break at the nearby Conti's for a slice of my favorite cake.

Now isn't that just the perfect weekend? Both the kids and grown-ups enjoying quality time together, minus the stress that, sometimes, city living brings to us. That is what Nuvali is all about. That is sustainable living. All of those acitivities that I mentioned is all about living together with the environment. We give back to the environment, and it gives back to us. Now, how do you say is that eco-living? Nuvali answers.

At the farther building after the Solenad in Nuvali is the sales office of Ayala Land which also houses an exhibit of how the Nuvali community works for sustainable development. It is a very interesting exhibit with a clear explanation of everything they've done and plan to do there, plus it is also an interactive display which kids will just love. The materials that they used for the furniture are made of environment friendly materials like bamboo, cork and dedon fiber. For the interior finishes, they used bamboo flooring and wood paneling, terrazo flooring, water-based paints for the walls and ceilings, and sustainable wood. In place of walls, they used floor to ceiling glass panels that are oriented to avoid the harsh rays of the sun, while concrete walls are built on the side of the building that cast the most sunlight.

Read more...

Building and Decorative Materials

Finally, here is the list of some interior eco-friendly materials that are available to the Philippine market. 


1. Boysen Eco-friendly Paints : Boysen's eco-friendly paints has the Green Seal for Certified Paints with significantly low VOC content. If you also want your project to be LEED certified, the new line of Boysen paints can help you gain points by using their line of paints that have VOC levels under 50 grams per liter. If you want to know more about the new line of Boysen eco-friendly paints, you can visit their website at Boysen Paints .


2. Campos Rueda Corporation Cork Products : Campos Rueda distributes cork products that are available in different thicknesses and colors. Applications may be for exterior walls, double walls; flat and sloping coverings; floating paving slab (impact noise); partitions; door insulation; prefabricated wooden houses; thermal and acoustic wooden panels; expansion/dilatation joints (adequate density); external frontages on view (MDF quality frontage). Other applications are home and office accessories such as bulletin boards, noise reduction solution to underlayment, flooring and wood panels, gaskets and materials for automotive and heavy duty applications (rubberized cork sheet), thermal protection shields, expansion and contraction joints, wall decor and covers. You may contact them at (02)726.7031 or you may check their website Campos Rueda.


3. APO Engineered Wood Flooring: APO's engineered wood flooring is called APO Realwood. It is a natural wood product made from Toog or Philippine Rosewood. It is a natural and biodegradable product. The trees were selectively cut and replanted in a permanent forest in Surigao. It was cited as a model for sustainable development by the Tropical Timber Organization and "Best Practice in Forest Management" by the UP College of Forestry and Natural Resources. 


The wood flooring comes in different finishes such as camel, sedona, spice, rosewood and wengue. It comes ready to install and has 8 coats of APROTECT for durability and easy maintenance (no need to wax). Each piece with dimensions of 6" x 48" x 12mm thick is priced at PhP 325.00 each.  Visit your local home depot for more information or you can visit APO Realwood for more details.


4. HM Trading Natural Woven Mats: HMT Natural Woven Mats are made form the finest fibers such as rattan, abacca, saguran, pandan and other exotic materials that are handbloomed and perfected by traditional fiber weavers. They have a wide array of designs and natural materials to choose from that can be used for furniture, wall and ceiling panels, and decorative purposes. You have to check out their website, HM Trading, and see what I'm talking about.


5. TN Philippines: If you're looking for someone who can fabricate a product out of capiz, shells, bamboo, abaca or any natural indigenous material, TN Philippines is where you go to. They have a lot of different designs and selections of materials in their factory and they can fabricate it to whatever design you want. You can call (02)829.3820 or (02)829.3819 and look for Mr. Al Caronan.


6. Formaply Bamboo Products: Formaply Industries carries bamboo products namely bamboo veneers, bamboo panelling and bamboo flooring. Their bamboo flooring is available in different finishes, abrasion resistant, scratch resistant, resistant to cigarette burns, stain resistant, non-toxic and non-polluting. Check out Formaply Bamboo for more information.


7. Larry's Curtain 100% Cotton Fabric: Larry's Curtain and Upholstery has a new line of 100% cotton fabrics which are certified tested for harmful substances according to the Labo-tex certification system and Oeko-tex Standards. The Oeko-tex is the most widely recognized eco-label for textiles and it guarantees that these products are 100% safe for you and your family - free of harmful toxins and irritants. Besides that, the fabric line comes in different beautiful colors and textures, although it may be a bit pricier than the regular cotton fabric. You may contact Larry's at (02)833.8780.


8. Mariwasa Ceramic Tiles: Mariwasa tiles are composed of more than 8% of recycled materials. The use of recycled materials reduces the waste shipped to landfills and cuts down on mining of clay and other minerals needed to make conventional tiles. Mariwasa’s technology for zero waste renewable energy and raw materials from rice husks enables the company to use biomass instead of fossil fuels. Mariwasa uses renewable energy to reduce carbon dioxide emission to lessen greenhouse gasses and mitigate impact of climate change. Know more at Mariwasa.

Read more...

arrangement of living room a beautiful view of the chair

Emm....!! Located in the southern countryside, this is the retirement house of former city dwellers. The owners of the house, being used to the traditional style that their city residence used to have, wanted something a little different yet nothing too contemporary for their taste. The result is southern plantation style - relaxed and sophisticated classic interiors.





After their much-awaited retirement, the couple immediately moved in to their new four-bedroom house in the countryside. This was a big move for them, after all, they lived in the city for more than thirty years. Relishing the fresh air, and the cool breeze that this part of the country is known for, they wanted the interiors of their house to imbibe the spirit of the south. Upon learning about Kristine Datuin, the couple met with her and talked about how they wanted this house to still look classic traditional but not with the same traditional furniture they had in their old house. The lady of the house particularly wanted simple lines but with classical details. Kristine knew then that the plantation style will be perfect for the couple, and for the whole southern theme as well.





Since the family was already living in the house, they wanted minimal construction, if any. Being a newly built house, Kristine decided then to work with the existing design and structure of the living and dining areas, and proposed an all furniture design, so as not to cause any construction discomforts to the family. The living area had a big space surrounded by windows with views of the greenery outside. Kristine took advantage of this and made it a backdrop of the living room furniture. The sofa and lounge chairs were comfortable and at the same time had the details that the client wanted -  turned legs, nail heads, simple lines, and classic silhouettes. The rest of the wood furniture were finished in a light walnut stain with antique finished hardware. At the corner of the living room is the owner's antique chest of drawers which was refurbished by Delfino's furniture, the same furniture maker for the new pieces. This chest is special to the owners and they wanted it to be a part of their new living room. To make it more significant, Kristine placed this chest beneath the mother and child Joya painting and arranged a vignette of mother and child pieces from the couple's collection.

Read more...

Sugar, Spice and accessories And Everything Nice

I can be a little obsessive-compulsive but I'd rather call myself a neat freak. I just love to organize things, making sure they can be easily accessible when I need them. I also love sorting things together. After that, my being an interior designer kicks in. I'd make sure that my things are positioned nicely and visually balanced. This applies to most of the things I do, and even to wrapping gifts. I have a penchant for making my gifts look really nice. I have always believed that making the wrapping of the gift nice, makes the actual gift more special. I don't really splurge on expensive wrappers but putting on a creative touch to the wrapping is what makes it fun. Your like!??





So, image my excitement when I came across this little shop in Greenbelt 5 aptly called, Tie Me Up Buttercup. How cute is that??? It's a small kiosk in the middle of the Greenbelt 5 walkway (just a little across Tory Burch) that carries a multitude of specially designed ribbons for wrapping, decorating, scrap booking and in my little daughter's case, for her hair. Ribbons with themes designed for little girls and boys, baby girls and boys, tweens and toddlers. They also have ribbons for the more mature clientele such as the grosgrain ribbons with the running stitch, stripes, plain satin ribbons, dots and checks.

Read more...

Webhost issues

We're having some webhost issues at theadmad.com, as it seems a huge wave of traffic consumed in a few hours our monthly transfer bandwidth.

We're looking into this and trying to get an upgrade, but still the site will probably be offline till the end of the week.

That said, we know you wanna get your daily creative rush so why don't you take a look around these sites, you'll surely dig them:

FFFFound
Behance Network
Computerlove
The Cool Hunter

Enjoy and check us back as it won't take long for TheAdMad.com to be online again.
Thanks!

Read more...

Black and White Landscape Photography by Moises Levy

Born in Mexico City in 1963, Moises Levy is a lifelong resident there, and works in the city as an established architect. 

In 1982, when he began his studies in architecture at Universidad Iberoamericana, his appreciation of the natural relation between light and architecture was deepened. Subsequent travel to Boston, Paris and Venice served to illuminate the unbreakable bond between architecture and its relationship with light. It was this early interest in the qualities of light that lead Levy to photography, and as a counterpoint to his work as an architect he has now been drawn to landscape work.

Read more...

Smart Interior Design Apps With the advent of the smartphone

it's no surprise how everything can be accessed with just one gadget. Games, Email, Facebook, Exercise Routines, Recipes, Twitter - it's all there in that small piece of gadget we used to know as a mere cellphone. And for designers like me, life is made much more interesting and fun with these cool apps that can show me how my walls will look if I repaint them, or how I can measure and make a floor plan by just taking pictures or how I can easily access an Autocad file when I'm not on my laptop. For my top picks, I divided them into two categories namely: Design Apps on My Iphone and Other Design Apps I Have Yet To Try. Read on:


Design Apps on My Iphone


1. Magic Plan (free)


Magic Plan helps you create a floor plan in an instant. All you have to do is stand in the middle of the room and capture every corner of the room using the camera. After that, you just have to take the measurements of the walls with the most length so the app can calibrate the measurements of the room based on that. It is a bit difficult at first, most especially the capturing of the corners but once you've tried at least three rooms, it will be much easier. The app has a tutorial that clearly explains how to do it and the interface is very easy to use. There will be a Magic Plan watermark though, at the middle of the floor plan, but you can upgrade to the paid app if you don't want the watermark. For me, it works well, watermark and all.

2. Color Capture - Benjamin Moore (free)

Take a photo and this app will capture and match the colors that are on that picture. Using Benjamin Moore Paint's 3,300 colors, this app can help you make a color scheme out of anything that your eyes fancy. I personally love the colors available in this app and I can make as much color schemes as I want. You can save it to your photo album so you can send it to your client or if you just want to keep a copy of it.

Read more...

A change of tack

When we began this blog it was meant to be a means by which we could record our passion for two things:  chairs and upholstery.  The blog subsequently took on a form of its own and quickly became a place to find a design classic or two, with posts on upholstery fairly thin on the ground.  So, in an attempt to redress the balance we're turning our attention (for today at least) to a dusty old book we found over the weekend - none other than the upholsterer's 'Bible'.  Although originally written by Frederick Palmer in 1921, 'Practical Upholstering' is still the most complete work on the subject, admirably describing the timeless techniques and best practice of the traditional upholsterer.  Without a photograph in sight, the book contains over 400 hand-drawn illustrations as a result of Palmer's habit of making sketches of chairs and settees at different points in their construction.  It's a wonderful and insightful book into the handicraft that is traditional upholstery.

Read more...

The American Foursquare

The American Foursquare house, as featured on Marquette's Champion Street.

This housing style was popular from the mid-1890s on until around 1940. It is typified by a boxy design, a front-facing dormer window, and a hipped roof (in the Upper Peninsula, the roof is pitched much more steeply due to the snowy climate). The square design maximizes the use of a small city lot.

Many of these houses could be ordered by mail from catalogues such as Sears and Roebucks. They were delivered by train and came ready to build, for a cheap price.

Read more...

Vancouver and the Stanley Cup

With Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final now over (my sincerest condolences to Vancouver), let's take a look at the urban experience surrounding the event, and how TransLink dealt with the crowds.

Last Friday, screens were set up in downtown Vancouver to allow fans to watch the games broadcast from Boston. The city estimates that over 70,000 fans turned out, filling the streets and businesses in the area. Although they lost the Boston games, those who came downtown to watch the home games, were reminded of the Olympics and the excited atmosphere that overtook the city. Vancouver is ideally set up for such gatherings/events and the mood of the people was, and is testament to this. Many businesses closed early to allow staff to go watch the games and restaurants/bars did their best to accommodate the lines which started forming well before the games were due to start. Again, much like the Olympics, which overtook the City not too long ago, people were encouraged to use transit, bike or walk.

The lessons learned from the Olympics enabled TransLink and the City to effectively manage massive crowds within a downtown environment. With anywhere between 100,000 - 150,000 expected to attend game 7, TransLink used the following methods to streamline access:

• asked riders to buy return tickets early (avoiding long lines after the game)
• set up portable fareboxes that required exact fare
• increased SkyTrain service to run an hour later than usual
• extra buses on standby, and extended hours
• an additional third ferry 
• re-routing buses due to street closures

They also added a note on their website that there would be a "zero-tolerance policy for open liquor and rowdy, dangerous, and unsafe behaviour." Although they were well-prepared for the crowds, they weren't prepared for the riots, which were reported to be inflicted by only a "small group of troublemakers."

An article from Sports Illustrated reported that Vancouverites "woke up this morning to news reports that portrayed this beautiful city in out-of-control chaos, a sharp contrast from the goodwill engendered from its successful Olympics 16 months ago."

The riots are an unfortunate event that overshadowed the positive aspects of yesterday: that Vancouver has an wonderful urban environment that is conducive to large crowds filling the streets, coming together to cheer on their team. After the Winter Olympics last year, Chicago Tribune writer Philip Hersh said:

"One cannot overlook the passion and general goodwill of the people who both put on the Games and celebrated them until all hours in a city that never before had allowed itself such continuous, unrestrained fun."

Although the riots will possibly affect events in the future, the passionate and generous atmosphere of Vancouver was still present throughout most of this past week. So instead of the images being focused on in newspapers and online, let's remember the Stanley Cup through the following images:

flickr: dai.rong

flickr: John Biehler

flickr: Ariane Colenbrander

flickr: Mike Wu

flickr: Suraky

flickr: Suraky

flickr: Suraky

flickr: Rick Chung

flickr: patiopatio

flickr: kardboard604

Read more...

Grow: an art and urban agriculture project

A couple of weeks ago, I spent a Saturday afternoon helping facilitate a workshop for Grow: an art and urban agriculture project. The Grow project is multi-faceted participatory art project exploring themes of community development, food security and urban agriculture through a series of workshops, lectures and “creative experiments in urban agriculture.”

The main site for the Grow project is a 10,400 sq ft. plot of land on the north side of the seawall walkway in SEFC. Over the summer, this land will gradually be transformed into a community garden, through a series of sculptural installations. Dubbed “the Bulkhead Laboratory,” the plot is a transitional space, an overgrown remnant of False Creek’s industrial past sitting next to the carefully designed landscaping of SEFC and the deliberately constructed habitat island. It is space that has the power to challenge our definitions of “urban green space,” “community gardens,” “public open space.”

The workshop I attended, the second in an ongoing series, focused on exploring urban agriculture, specifically, creative solutions to growing food crops in containers and small spaces. The workshop began with a presentation from lead artist Holly Schmidt and collaborator/industrial designer Ocean Dionne of the Vancouver Design Nerds. They presented some creative container designs and art projects from around the world, and the group discussed the requirements for growing mediums, drainage, light and other considerations for container gardening.

After the presentation and discussion, we took a walk around Southeast False Creek. The discussion turned to the prescribed nature of the landscape. It was noted that despite the fact that there is lot of “green space” in Vancouver, much of it is not available to residents to use to grow food, or even to use as they see fit. The landscaping around SEFC is beautiful and it meant to be looked at. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but the popularity of community gardens in recent years shows that Vancouverites are seeking out green spaces that they can participate in, green spaces that can be productive as well as decorative.

We spent some time discussing the possibilities for agricultural interventions into the existing landscape. Self-watering gardens floating in the water features? Using magnets for attaching containers to metal fixtures or furniture? Are there possibilities for creating small productive spaces within this decorative landscape? We eventually made our way over and took a quick look at the Bulkhead Lab, a completely non-prescribed space where our ideas could be given form.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sketching out, creating and planting some simple containers. Then we installed them over at the Bulkhead.

The Grow project will be going on all summer. There are upcoming tours, talks, workshops and work parties. Check out the Grow website for more information.

Read more...

A review of the Architectural Registration Exams

I am exactly half-way through writing the Architectural Registration Exams. On Monday, I wrote my fourth (of seven) but I don’t know yet whether I passed it or not, so I could be slightly more than half-done or slightly less. So far the process has been exhausting and often frustrating. I’m finding that I need about 6 weeks to study for an exam, if I spend 20 hours or so per week studying. This varies by exam, of course, but that’s probably a decent average. I know many people don’t spend that much time studying, but I like to be prepared and I’ve been passing, so I guess it’s paying off.

20 hours per week is a part-time job. In addition to my full-time job. 7 exams at 6 weeks each: if I take a week off between each exam that is essentially an entire year, assuming I pass every single exam the first time. Currently, I’m only working 4 days a week because I couldn’t stomach the thought of 60 hour weeks (40 of them paid) for an entire year or more. I know that many people do it, but don’t know how. Forget work-life balance! I’m lucky that VIA has been very accommodating.

In my experience though, the time spent studying for the ARE’s isn’t really the hard part. The hard part is that it’s difficult to stay motivated when the content of the exams favours American codes and business practices and the study material itself is expensive, poorly written and often full of mistakes. That’s why it would be great to be able to write an exam written for Canadian interns, based on Canadian content. (If only such a thing existed. Oh wait… It does!)

So far the AIBC is the only provincial (and territorial) licensing association that continues to require its interns to pass the ARE’s as opposed to the Canadian ExAC. Although it’s difficult to say exactly why the AIBC insists on sticking with the old system, I’ve heard a couple of “reasons.” The usual one involves the importance of having reciprocity with American jurisdictions. It’s hard to believe this is anything other than an excuse. First off, why would it be more important for an architect in Vancouver to have reciprocity than, for example, one in Toronto? It seems unlikely that only BC architects work across the border. Secondly, if all Canadian architects are licensed based on the ExAC, then a new reciprocity agreement will need to be negotiated with NCARB. If reciprocity really is that important, then a new agreement will be reached sooner or later.

The other reason I’ve heard for not offering the ExAC in BC is the financial burden of administering the exam. When you consider the expense involved in continually developing and updating content that crosses so many areas of expertise, not to mention invigilating and marking the exam, this reason has the ring of truth. However, if the majority of the cost involved comes from creating the exam questions, doesn’t it follow that the more provinces to provide the exam, the cheaper it is for everyone? And why is the AIBC the only association that can’t afford it? (I was an intern in Quebec as well, so I know for a fact that dues are higher in BC!) This reasoning makes me feel that the AIBC isn’t as committed to supporting its interns as other provincial associations.

In 2010 the AIBC surveyed interns regarding their working conditions and progress towards becoming registered. The most significant response, in my mind, was that over 70% of respondents felt that they had not been adequately compensated and over 60% felt that the time and energy spent towards registration had not been worthwhile. The comments specifying why they felt this way were diverse, ranging from the length and difficulty of the process itself, the lack of compensation and work-life balance, and the direction of the profession in general.

It’s clear that the process of becoming a registered architect is long and difficult and the ARE’s are a large part of this. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that the process is hard. Architects have a lot of responsibility and require a very broad knowledge base in order to do the job well. As with any respected profession, becoming a member should be challenging and rigorous. But it should also be worthwhile. Although I’m half-way through and committed to finishing the NCARB ARE’s, I’m also looking forward to when the AIBC finally adopts the ExAC, because I think it will make the registration process a lot more accessible and fulfilling to BC’s interns.

Read more...

St. Peter's Cathedral

Marquette is home to the beautiful and historic St. Peter's Cathedral. This church, with its twin domed steeples, sits upon one of the highest points in downtown Marquette and can be seen from afar. The building is lovely both inside and out, and is built from area sandstone.



The inside of the cathedral, looking toward the altar.



Looking toward the choir loft and the organ. The floor is made from beautiful tiles.



The steeples are adorned with colorful terra cotta tiling and stylized angels.



The cornerstone was laid in 1881 following a blaze that destroyed the first cathedral on the spot. A second blaze gutted the cathedral in 1935, but restoration started the following year. The domes were added to the top of the steeples at this time, hence the reason why the figures are depicted in an Art Deco style.

To read a full history of St. Peter's Cathedral, visit this site.

Read more...