Published bi-monthly, Urbis features stylish interiors, spaces and objects, fascinating places, interesting people, technology updates and car reviews. Through its sophisticated design, Urbis appeals to design-savvy consumers and style-makers, as well as design and architecture professionals.
Editorial
Contributors
Shorts
HOT HOUSES • ARCHITECTS, DESIGNERS AND FORMER URBIS EDITORS PICK THEIR DREAM NEW ZEALAND SPACE FROM THE LAST TWO DECADES.
Books • The last 20 years have seen a boom in interest in architecture and design worldwide. These books – some influential, some ground breaking, some just personal favourites – are all books I return to again and again. They are books I grab from the bookshelves and revisit in quiet moments and, more often than not, I find something new in their pages.
On the shelves • Penny Martin is, among other things, editor-inchief of UK-based magazine The Gentlewoman. She is highly regarded for contributing informed and intelligent views on fashion, combined with progressive journalism and features on influential modern women. Here, Penny wrote for Urbis about the six books permanently or currently on her shelves.
Modernist apartment • Designed by Bauhaus master Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and completed in 1960, the iconic Lafayette Park housing development in downtown Detroit is widely considered to have been the first urban renewal in the United States – and one of its most successful. This two-bedroomed townhouse is one of 186 units and three apartment towers that share 32 hectares of track-free green spaces, and was purchased by designer Bryan Boyer, a partner at architecture firm Dash Marshall, and Laura Lewis, a lawyer, when they moved from New York to Detroit in 2015.
The Urbanists • The people, places and ideas changing our cities, one enclave at a time.
The baby wows • Post-millennials, Gen Z… call them what you will but they are ready to take over. Here is a small sample of the bright young things who are likely to help define our design and architecture world in the near future.
Urbis Drive • Andrew Kerr profiles a clutch of new models that major on practicality and performance.
Vanishing act • This media room is part bohemian, modernist and grounded by rich, luscious colour. But where, oh where, could one place the TV without destroying this interior mood? Samsung’s new QLED TV might just have the answer.
Technophile • Twenty years is just a blip in the history of humanity. It’s a micro-blip in the history of the world, and a nanoblip in space and time. But, goddamn, the last 20 years have changed the way we live our lives.
TOP SHELF: Honey and light • Amber-like and honeycomb-inspired light pieces make for an instant sensation of warmth.
TOP SHELF: The life aquatic • A modern interpretation of the deep, blue sea alluding to pumice, marble and paua shell: Jacques Cousteau, Neptune and even Tangaroa might feel right at home!
GET THE LOOK ON YOUR WALLS
Two decades: one object • How do you summarise 20 years of furniture and object design into a few pages? You don’t even try. You can, however, ask some of New Zealand’s leading designers and industry experts what their favourite objects of the last 20 years have been, in order to catch a small glimpse of the era.
Inside Story • New Zealand native Lee Gibson is the lead footwear designer for a top sportswear brand. He opens the door to his Portland home to show us the objects he can’t do without.
Dear readers…
Spaces
DIVINE PROPORTIONS • Designed to fit within the shell of an existing shed on an Otago sheep station, this cabin is small yet perfectly formed, with some quirky design features that expand the space in clever ways.
CALIFORNIA SOUL • FOR HER LATEST BOOK,...
