Maison NW is where architect Nathalie Wolberg lives and works. It also happens to be where she experiments with new ideas about her environment and how we live. Tailoring the space to allow the body to define it, Maison NW takes on a new approach to 'rooms' and 'furniture' including, but not limited to, this relaxation area:
See lots and lots of pictures of amazingly different ideas on Archinect.
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really cool looking and I'm sure it's perfectly secure, but I would get a little nervous!
Makes me nervous to think that you have to rely on the last person who gets on to assess whether their addition throws you over the maximum weight capacity!
Is this the cast of Fame partaking in an abstract performance art piece? blech.
That makes my stomach queasy. I'll take a couch thank you :)
Very cool and am happy to see people pushing the envelope on what defines architectural living space. Unfortunately my fear of heights would keep me from ever going on that net.
cool ^_^
like a giant hammock
The view from the lower level wouldn't be too pleasant.
This is awesome. I don't have kids yet, but I have a kids room in waiting with rafters just like this. I'm going to make one! Thanks AT Maison NW!
I could NEVER, EVER relax on something like that. I would be freaking out looking down and thinking the thing would tear. The only way is if it was only 4 or 5 feet above the floor. But that? No thanks!
Nice idea... but nah. I'd be too worried about it collapsing.
fear of heights
Ditto
deathtastic!
Ha! A few years ago my (then) 4th grader said, "Mom, wouldn't it be cool to have a whole house where the floors were all trampolines?"
I guess the kid was onto something!
This also reminds me of a catamaran we were on last month in the Caribbean where there were two areas like this on the front of the boat. They were fun to sit on and watch the ocean going by underneath you!
If I was sure it was installed safely (and at an architect's house, I imagine it would be), this would be awesome.
I saw a tour of this house on French TV:
http://www.france5.fr/question-maison/?id=884&page=article
The whole space is very... original. The hammock is very cool, tho.
The playscape at our local Dairy Queen has something similar.
Make it a trampoline and I'm totally there.
F'ing terrifying.
I would absolutely love to have that.
However, the attachments certainly look undersized?
This has been a childhood dream of mine. Spectacular
It's all fun and games until someone falls through the floor...
reminds me of the 'discovery zone' where everyone had their birthday parties growing up (chuck e cheese was so passe). I never went on the net as I was (and am) afraid of heights. it looks comfy, but unless it was professionally installed, I'd be too nervous.
awful. you would instinctively move away from it. juvenile. tacky in a new way. inelegant. humans naturally move *away* from surfaces that compromise their physical safety, as this can. something dreamt up in a dorm room after too much pot.
looks comfy allright, but still I'm worried about the safety..
one other observation: did you notice how the women are sitting off to the side, and only the guys are actually sitting on this thing? it's an anti-nesting, pro-testosterone- pumping structure.
I'm surprised no one has commented on the strange, floating, inaccessible pillow/blanket nook just above the giant hammock. Odd.
This room looks like it was taken out a Nooni and Nuni sketch from SNL.
For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Schoeners
After reading the comment, "I'm surprised no one has commented on the strange, floating, inaccessible pillow/blanket nook just above the giant hammock..." I went back and skimmed over the picture a little more.
If you look closely, there are a few ladder-like stairs that are on the far right side of the picture.
The person on the right side of the net does look a little uneasy... I'm with the trampoline people, though. Maybe they could then "leap" into the nook too. (Ha ha, now THAT's "deathtastic"!)
wish i could do that!
That makes me feel queasy. Maybe if it was no higher up than like a bunk bed, but on a second floor? Gives me the willies.
I love it! Beautiful and original! I like the floating nook too.
What's missing from this shot is the swinging trapeze overhead, you know, this is just the safety net. Okay, maybe that was just in my mind. It's crazy and unsettling, but yeah, it's cool, too. I think I'd prefer it if there were a big (and deep enough) pool of water below, juuuust in case.
I quite like this. I'd probably hang out there all the time in summer, though it would lose it's appeal in winter.
Oh man I am afraid of heights so this picture terrifies me. But I have to admit it looks really awesome. :)
~Amanda
http://onehappypanda.blogspot.com
Love this! Reminds me of summer camp.
What's missing from this shot is the swinging trapeze overhead, you know, this is just the safety net. Okay, maybe that was just in my mind.</I>
Me, too, randomname! I actually love this idea, but then, my parents were trapeze artists and we had a trapeze, complete with net, in our backyard for all of my childhood. It was a favorite place for my friends and I to lounge and read a book or something, so I would absolutely love to recreate it in my own home--if I had the space.
LOL i love it. want to take a duvet on it and go for a nap ...
The women would not be comfortable on it with the big guys in the middle. They'd have to sit on an odd slant toward the edges and fight gravity to keep from sinking toward the center. This is a structure that rewards the heaviest person and makes every one else adjust around him.
would cure my fear of heights.
Yay, trapeze! I've been taking trapeze classes and I love them. But I would never want to sit on this floor either, way too high over the floor.
Interesting idea to bring the classic outdoor hammock experience inside. I think I still prefer it outside though.
wow. no.
Im curious why everyone is so fearful of this concept. I mean - your FLOOR is suspended in space by attachments at the sides. Why is this much different?
I would fall in love with that net- except for the fact I would lose all my pencils and highlighters while reading.
As a space however, it looks much too commercial instead of homey. I much prefer an exotic orientalist look for an artist's abode.
How relaxing could it be if to get on and off that net you have to negotiate your balance with every effort and move you make. And wonder how long will these little hooks hold up so many fat bums.
There's enough slanting edges to black and blue an Octopus!!
Just by looking at the picture of the person clinging to the stair rail, lets us know how many glasses of whatever you should limit yourself to in that house.
The whole place looks clinical and uncomfortable. Some times ideas should remain just that, until the focus is shifted to function before form.
I'm afraid there would have to be some code issues about that sort of "room". Looks like a catastrophe waiting to happen. How many semi-drunk people can fit onto this space before the grommets or whatever is holding the netting in place gives. CRAZY!
MODFAN, your floor is also very rigid and has columns and or load bearing walls helping to support it. It is not held together at the edges by attaching it to walls.
id be worried about it falling down, but at the same time- HOW COOL!
Remember kids- just because it doesn't look safe doesn't mean it isn't.
I'm always glad when anyone explores concepts in relaxing but honestly most of this houses goes completely against the theory of ergonomics and improving modern life. I loved the visuals of this house but it is yet another example of design placing form above function.
This would be cool in a tiny home as the "loft" level! :)
I'm surprised by how many people think this is "unsafe" and that it might "fall". I'm sure the calculations were done to see how much weight the net could hold, just as when floors, walls, ceilings and furniture are being planned. The woman is an architect! I don't think this was some Home Depot/Fishing Store project relying on crossed fingers and Boy Scout knots. I'd imagine most architects who hope to remain employed don't aim for customers/friends plummeting to their death from half-assed hammock floors. Precautions were probably made! Just because you can see the floor doesn't mean you'll fall on it!
I think the whole house seems like a fun place to live. It may not work with the elderly and children, but I bet both young and flexible older people would adore to dwell in a home like this.