I stumbled upon the website of Jason Madara, a talented photographer whom Jo featured back in ’09, and thought I’d share some more of his work with you all. Many photographers take advantage of bright light in their photos but in the majority of cases Jason has a knack for doing the opposite and playing with low light and shadows. Love the drama it creates. 

This next project by architect Alia Bengana is quite different from the previous one. It’s a 450 square metre home in Algiers, designed to preserve the existing greenery as much as possible: thus the main entrance located along a stone wall which penetrates inside a double-height space, is carried out by climbing stairs directly in line with a palm tree which is viewed in its entirety through a glass wall. All the entrances of the houses have been designed as paintings open to the surrounding nature, framed by palm trees, orange trees or yuccas. I love it when architects pay this much attention to the beauty of the surroundings and frame the views within the structure. Brilliant.

Alia Bengana is a French architect from Algiers currently based in Paris who kindly sent us photos of a few of her unpublished projects to share with our readers. This first project is the complete refurbishment and division of a 195 square metre Parisian apartment into 2 separate apartments. This is great – I dig the mid-century/modern/vintage feel, that marble bathroom is heavenly and helloooooooo herringbone floor!

I could really use a break from the chaos of everyday, and when I came across this home captured by one of my all-time favourite photographers Jordi Canosa I was momentarily transported to a gorgeous villa in Barcelona. A place where wonderful memories could be made and relaxation is essential – how could you not feel at ease in a place like this?

(Previous posts of Jordi Canosa’s work here)

My twin sister sent me a link to an awesome little Swedish apartment for sale. According to the photo of the plans it’s a studio but has all the amenities – decent sized kitchen, a great built-in desk, lounge chair for TV watching, washer/dryer and a balcony. What’s even better is the decor – it’s everything I’m obsessing with these days – black/white/touches of wood, industrial lighting, white tiles with dark grout, linen…..