‘Elevator Bed’ Rises to Reveal Sunken Living Room

Design and Photography by YO! Home

Inspired by the counterweight mechanics of stage scenery, YO! Home attempts to rethink the urban apartment and create additional space by hiding rooms when not in use. The most dramatic example is the ‘elevator bed’ which rises into the ceiling to reveal a sunken living room beneath.

Design and Photography by YO! Home

YO! Home by Simon Woodroffe

The YO! Home apartment concept debuted at last week’s 100% Design Exhibition in London. It is the brainchild of Simon Woodroffe, the man responsible for YO! Sushi and YOTEL. Through twelve mechanical moving parts, YO! Home attempts to deliver 4 x eighty square metre rooms: sitting room, bedroom, kitchen/dining room and office, plus two cinemas and a separate guest room/study all in an eighty square metre apartment.

It’s an ambitious undertaking and very early in the concept stage. The design raises many questions that have yet to be addressed and it will be interesting to see if this project progresses beyond a mere creative concept.

For more information please visit: http://yo.co.uk/

Design and Photography by YO! Home

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Unique Loft Space with Hanging Bedroom

Belgium Water Tower Converted into Single Family Home

Located in the Belgian village of Steenokkerzeel, this 30 meter (98.4 ft) water tower was originally built between 1938 and 1941. It was in service until the 1990s and was even used as a watchtower by the Nazis when they took over Belgium in World War II.

In 2007, Bham Design Studio set forth to completely renovate and convert the former water tower into a single family home. The exterior was completely restored to its original state, while columns were repaired, joints were removed and top floor windows were enlarged.

While the space serves as a private residence for the owners (a couple), they also rent part of the building out for exclusive events once or twice a month. The overall design is minimal and many of the original elements such as: the main water conduct, concrete ceilings and stairs, and the giant 250,000 liter water basin were kept to preserve the strong identity of the building.

Below you will find a gallery of this fascinating home, photographed by Jasmine Van Hevel; along with additional information about the layout and interior.

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Chateau d’eau by Bham Design Studio

Location: Steenokkerzeel, Belgium
Project date: 2007 – 2008
Area: 450 square meters | 4,844 square feet
Height: 30 meters | 98.4 feet

Level 0 – Main entrance and garage (2 cars)
Level 1 – Technical room, storage and utility
Level 2 – Guest room with en suite and office
Level 3 – Bathroom with 4.5 meter high shower
Level 4 – Circular bedroom with dome ceiling and spiral staircase leading to upper floor
Level 5 – Living room, kitchen and dining room. Old elevator block now a rest room, library, cloak room and cat house
Level 6 – Steel bridge on level 5 takes you to panoramic terrace with 360 views and outdoor shower

[Source: Bham Design Studio]

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The Most Expensive 1-Bedroom Apartment in the World

Photograph via Japan Sotheby’s International Realty

Listed at a cool 1.8 billion yen ($21.8 million USD), the Sifter’s jaw dropped when the listing stated an apartment called The House, in the exclusive Minami-Azabu district of Tokyo (the most expensive neighbourhood in Tokyo), was a 4,434 square foot (411.932 sq m) 1-Bedroom apartment.

At a mind-boggling $4,920.75 per square foot, the Sifter challenges you to find a more expensive 1-bedroom apartment for sale.

Here’s the details on this insane listing. It will be interesting to see how long this remains on the market for; can’t imagine that there’s a large market for 20+ million, 1-bedroom apartments.

– Almost all furniture in the home is custom designed by Cecotti Collezioni
– Many of the walls, flooring and doors are Italian imported stone and wood
– Features a Japanese ‘Ryotei’ style dining room for dinner parties allowing chef to serve guests directly from gourmet kitchen
– Parisian-style terrace overlooking Arisugawa park
– Features original works from famous Japanese artist Hiroshi Senju, painted on site
– Entrance hallway has walls that open up to massive 200-pair shoe storage unit
– Features massive, fully enclosed courtyard garden
– 1 full bath, 2 partial baths
– All kitchen appliances by La Cornue

It’s a nice design with some beautiful interior decorating and fabulous outdoor spaces, but it’s still a 1-bedroom apartment! The Sifter says thanks but no thanks, I’ll keep my imaginary $21.8 million…

Photograph via Japan Sotheby’s International Realty

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Coolest. Loft. Ever. [40 pics]

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

It’s a bold statement I know. What constitutes the “Coolest. Ever.”? When you’re talking loft spaces, high ceilings is a must…. 30 ft… check. It also needs something unique, something memorable, so when you tell your friends about the “coolest loft ever” one line is all it takes,

“There’s a basketball court in the living room, right beside the 18-foot Ficus tree”

Yeah that should do. Now come check out the incredible loft at 110 Freelon Street, located in the trendy SoMa (South of Market) neighbourhood of San Francisco, California.

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

THE COOLEST LOFT EVER – 110 FREELON STREET, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

Built by the owner in the early 2000s with consultation by the Martin Building Company, the 4,400 square foot (408 sq m) live/work space was listed on April 15, 2011 for $3.1 million. Eleven days later, the property was sold for $3.32 million by Rob Levy and Steve Wu.

Featuring multiple levels of mezzanines, the 30-foot ceilings are adorned with multiple skylights, including a gigantic 16 x 20 foot retractable center skylight. That 18-foot Ficus tree is maintained by an automated watering system, and the 9-screen wall panel video system just looks sweet (watching football on Sundays would be epic). More details below…

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

THE COOLEST LOFT EVER Continued…

– NCAA regulation glass backboard
– Music control panels throughout the loft
– Multi-setting custom lighting control system throughout the loft
– Industrial-style fireplace with exposed ceiling flute
– 3-car garage that directly accesses the loft
– Full wood decking on roof-top terrace with 4-person jacuzzi
– laser-optic lit steel tube pathway entrance

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

SoMA (South of Market) Neighbourhood, San Francisco

SoMa borders are Market Street to the north-northwest, the San Francisco Bay to the east, Townsend Street to the south-southeast, and U.S. Route 101 (Central Freeway) to the west-southwest. The northeastern corner (where Market Street meets the bay) is often considered part of the Financial District, while the upper western corner of SOMA between Van Ness Avenue and 5th Street, and between Market and Mission Street is considered part of the “skid row” Tenderloin District. While many San Franciscans refer to the neighborhood by its full name, South of Market, there is a trend to shorten the name to SOMA or SoMa, probably in reference to SoHo (South of Houston) in New York City, and, in turn, Soho in London.

The neighborhood is a vast and diverse stretch of warehouses, auto repair shops, nightclubs, residential hotels, art spaces, loft apartments, furniture showrooms, condominiums, and technology companies. Despite the Dot-Com crash of the early 2000s, major software and technology companies have headquarters here, including Wired, Sega of America Inc., CNET Networks, Twitter, Justin.tv, BitTorrent Inc., Yelp, Rapleaf, and Advent Software among others.

SOMA is home to many of San Francisco’s museums which include the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Museum of the African Diaspora, the Cartoon Art Museum, the children’s Zeum, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum are also in the Yerba Buena area. The Center for the Arts, along with Yerba Buena Gardens and the Metreon, is built on top of Moscone North.

Across Howard Street, built on top of Moscone South, is a children’s park featuring a large play area, an ice skating rink, a bowling alley, a restaurant, the Zeum, and the restored merry-go-round from Playland-At-the-Beach. The children’s park and Zeum are joined to Yerba Buena Gardens by a footbridge over Howard Street. The area is also home to the few big box retail stores in San Francisco such as Costco, REI, Nordstrom Rack, and Best Buy. [Source: Wikipedia]

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

SOURCES

– Official listing site: http://www.110freelon.com/
– Consultants: The Martin Building Company
– First spotted on: Homedsgn.com
– SoMa information: Wikipedia
– Listing Agents: Rob Levy & Steve Wu

Photograph via Rob Levy & Steve Wu

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The Craziest Penthouse in San Francisco

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Perched on the top two floors of the 5-star St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. This $49 million, 20,000 sq ft (1,858 sq meters) penthouse is the craziest property I’ve ever seen in San Fran. Did I mention the 21-ft glass walls and 2,000 square foot terrace? Check out the pictures and descriptions below for more opulence:

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PROPERTY ESSENTIALS
117 Greenwich Street | San Francisco, California | 94111 United States

– Bedrooms: 6
– Bathrooms: 6
– Half Bathrooms: 4
– Interior: 20,000 square feet / 1,858 square meters
– Terrace: 2,000 square feet
– 21-foot glass ceilings
– 360 panoramic views of San Francisco

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UNIQUE AMENITIES
– 3+ Fireplaces
– 5+ Car Garage
– Private Elevator
– Doorman
– Spa/Hot Tub/Steam Room
– In-Home Fitness Center
– Library
– Media Room/Home Theater
– Wine Cellar/Grotto

5 years of design & build under the direction of renowned & award-winning design studio Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Design Associates

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Check out the size of the master bedroom!

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The biggest walk-in closets I’ve ever seen

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Double shower head FTW

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Brilliant patterns on the granite floors ❤

ALL INFORMATION AND PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF SOTHEBY’S INTERNATIONAL REALTY

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Wooden steps up a glass wall. Nice.

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If you enjoyed this post, the Sifter highly recommends: A TOWNHOUSE IN THE SKY

A Townhouse in the Sky

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It has been a few months since I’ve posted a real estate jaw-dropper from the mecca of insane property values that is New York City. This time I shift focus from the artsy SoHo district, to the ultra-swank neighbourhood of TriBeCa; which Forbes listed as New York City’s most expensive area code in 2006. Check out this utterly insane $28 million 5-storey townhouse in the sky, built on the roof of an old industrial building. And yes, one entire floor is dedicated to the master bedroom suite.

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PROPERTY OVERVIEW – 60 WARREN STREET, TriBeCa, NEW YORK CITY 10013

– Listing price: $28 Million USD
– 5-storeys, 10,911 square feet (1,014 square meters)
– 7 Bedrooms, 4 Bathrooms, 3 Half Bathrooms
– 3 large terraces
– 1 Roof Garden
– Full floor master suite
– 1,000 bottle wine cellar
– Rooftop gym
– Private elevator to connect floors
– Library
– Media room/Home theatre
– Jacuzzi room

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High ceilings and gigantic windows are an excellent combination (ps that chandelier is wild!)

HISTORY OF TriBeCa

– TriBeCa is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym, meaning “Triangle Below Canal Street”

– TriBeCa is bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Cortlandt Alley, Broadway, and Chambers Street

– In the early 1970s, a couple of years after artists in SoHo were able to legalize their live/work situation, artist and resident organizations in the area to the south, known then as Washington Market or simply the Lower West Side, sought to gain similar zoning status for their neighborhood.

– A group of Lispenard Street artist/residents living on the block directly south of Canal Street between Church Street and Broadway, in an area now part of the landmarked Tribeca Historic District, joined the effort. Just as the members of the SoHo Artists Association coined ‘SoHo’ after looking at a City Planning map which marked the area as ‘South of Houston’ and shortened that to SoHo, these Lispenard Street residents likewise employed a City Planning map to describe their block

– The TriBeCa name came to be applied to the area south of Canal Street, between Broadway and West Street, extending south to Chambers Street. The area was New York City’s first residential neighborhood, with residential development beginning in the late 1700s. By the mid 1800s the area transformed into a commercial center with large numbers of store and loft buildings constructed along Broadway in the 1850s and 1860s.

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A glimpse of two of the property’s three private terraces (I wonder if that sculpture was fun to move in)

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TriBeCa TODAY

– Today, TriBeCa is one of America’s most exclusive residential neighborhoods and is known for its celebrity denizens. In 2006 Forbes magazine ranked its 10013 zip-code as New York City’s most expensive

– TriBeCa is dominated by former industrial buildings that have been converted into residential buildings and lofts, similar to those of the neighboring SoHo Cast Iron Historic District. In the nineteenth and early twentieth, the neighborhood was a center of the textile/cotton trade

– As of the 2000 census, there were 10,395 people residing in TriBeCa

– The population density was 31,467 people per square mile (12,149/km2). The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 82.34% White, 7.96% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 4.89% African American, 0.10% Native American, 1.66% from other races, and 3.02% from two or more races

– 6.34% of the population were Hispanic of any race. Of the 18.2% of the population that was foreign born, 41.3% came from Europe, 30.1% from Asia, 11.1% from Latin America, 10.2% from North America and 7.3% from other

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Shall we check out the full floor master suite?