If you happen to be in Rotterdam, don’t forget to check out this new architectural pearl in the Charlois district. Located in the Pompstraat, the Black Pearl is a labor worker’s house that has been transformed into an award-winning spectacle that’s remarkable from both the outside and inside.

When you think of revitalizing space, paint is perhaps the best option. At least it’s one of the cheapest. Here at a bus terminal in Bratislava the urban interventionists of Civic Association and the people of Sadovský Architects have uplifted a bus stop that used to be a very sad place. As long as the government…

Once again, Finland offers us a fabulous way to become one with nature. Last month we wrote an article about the Igloo Hotel in Kakslauttanen, in which guests could enjoy the northern lights and stars of the crystal clear sky from their comfortable room through the thermal glass capsules. Helsinki-based architect Ville Hara and designer Linda…

Book an adventurous night in a hotel floating in nature. That’s all possible thanks to Marijn Beije’s graduation project Free Floating. The project basically features is a floating catamaran suite including four places to sleep, two terraces for relaxing, and a crow’s nest to spot birds. The floating catamaran suite aims to lure a broader target…

With his graduation project ‘Out of the Box, Into Your Life’, designer Erik van Halderen explores the potential of elevators as flexible rooms in buildings that can be utilized for more than transferring people up and down. In an attempt to bring static buildings to life, he created a series of three architectural models in…

This is yet another innovative design by Jeriël Bobbe, the creator of the Movie-ng Experience that we mentioned earlier in our Dutch Design Week 2011 series. Bobbe’s frequent travels and the carrying a trolley suitcase inspired him to use the trolley as a music instrument. Instead of annoying noises on ordinary stone pavements, a range of relief paving stones create…

Designer Niels van Hoof developed Taggie, a smartphone app that enables children to research where their supermarket food comes from. By aiming a smartphone camera at a product tag, an animated film will be played which explains where the food comes from and the way it grows. Besides, Taggie enables its users to playfully discover…

Bas van Tol is partner and designer at Müller van Tol, an Amsterdam-based design agency devoted to (temporary) interior design. Founded in the end of the eighties, the office has spezialized in wonderful, raw and minimal temporary interior projects for exhibitions, restaurants, bars, clubs and offices, such as the legendary restaurant and nightclub 11 in Amsterdam…