Who needs a balcony in Seattle?

With all the rain that we get here in the Northwest, we do not get to use our balconies very often, and the balcony space tends to be somewhat of a waste. Over two years ago Dutch architectural company Hofman Dujardin Architecten came up with a clever window design called bloomframe™ that makes windows transform to an open balcony at a push of a button.

Back in 2005 MusaDesign wanted to use bloomframe™ inside a loft interior space to provide privacy upstairs while still allowing it to be opened when privacy is not necessary. Unfortunately, bloomframe™ was still just a concept back then and we could not use it. The good news is that bloomframe™ is getting launched as a product in April 2008. We are looking forward to using it in our projects in Seattle.

The bloomframe™ balcony will be presented at the GEVELtotaal exhibition at the Ahoy Exhibition Centre in Rotterdam from the 23rd until the 25th of January 2008.

http://www.hofmandujardin.nl/pdf/Bloomframe-pressrelease.pdf
http://www.hofmandujardin.nl/index2.html

Seattle's Sensational Seven Interior Designers

Seattle Magazine has named MUSADESIGN one of the “Seattle's Sensational Seven Interior Designers with Northwest Flair”:

"MUSADESIGN (2617 Fifth Ave., 206.448.3301; 425.246.8464; musadesign.net) was founded four and a half years ago by Russian-born sisters Julia Sandetskaya and Polina Zaika. Growing up in a creative environment around their artistic father helped them both realize their love for design after testing different paths in school (Julia earned degrees in classical music, Russian, medicine and design, and Polina has degrees in art history and graphic design). The biggest chunk of their work is residential, taking projects from concept to completion with space planning, custom furniture, storage and lighting design, but their breakthrough work on Café Darclée earned them a Northwest Design Award for Environmentally Responsible Design in 2007. The green element is subtle—they used aluminum scaffolding, coconut plywood and chair seats made of recycled paper. Expert Advice When interviewing prospective designers, Sandetskaya says it’s important to judge them on more than just their style; she recommends posing a design challenge, whether it be a spatial or drafting problem, to test how they think."


http://www.seattlemag.com/BestOfHome2008: Interior Designers