Dolls' houses designed for charity
- Published
Some of the world's top architects, artists and designers have got together to come up with the Dolls' House project. Their aim was to think up new designs to raise money for a children's charity called KIDS. This is Electra House designed by Adjaye Associates - in collaboration with Base Models and artist Chris Ofili. This design is all about space and light.
This one is called Elvis' Tree House. It's a little more unusual and the designers, Amodels, say they wanted it to be physically challenging, so that's why there's lots of climbing to do to get to the top!
This one looks like lots of tiny little worlds all crammed into a big dollhouse. It's called Jigsaw House and it's inspired by one of the oldest and simplest games yes - the jigsaw puzzle! It's designed by a firm called Make Architects and each partner in the practice was encouraged to invent their own house filling each room with their own designs.
If you look closely you can see the stickmen that live in this house. The house itself is like a giant Rubik's cube - it rotates on a centre pole. Each of the dolls' houses have been designed with children in mind, particularly children with disabilities. The designers, called shedkm, say this one was inspired by a child with visual impairments.
This one is packed full with curious objects that make you want to explore each room. It was designed by a company called Studio Egret West. The house closes down to form a brightly coloured box. The objects inside are designed by artist Andrew Logan: a stair of mirrors, a ladder, a diving board, a few thimbles, a chain, a propeller. The team say they want this house to inspire the imagination.
The Grimm’s House has been designed by James Ramsey Raad Studio and artist Lara Apponyi, with blind children in mind. The house is meant to be explored by touch. The story of Hansel and Gretel is written in Braille around the outside. The inside is sculpted from hard candy, braided hair, and bones.
The mae-mak house is a house that can be folded away or built up in different ways. It was created by Mae, Maklab and Buro Happold - they said they want children to be inspired to create their own houses.
Inside Out is a house that focuses on the outside of the house as much as the in. It's made mainly from concrete but it also has removable rooms made from oak and brightly coloured paint. There's a bonsai tree and herbs in the garden too. It's made by a firm called Coffey Architecture and they say it's for all children whatever their needs and abilities.
This one is called Haptic House and it was designed by Dexter Moren. Each of the white boxes are the same size but inside they are all designed differently. Some of them have textures like wool inside to make each room interesting to touch.
This one is called Sound Play(ce) and focuses on sound. It's special design means sound is carried through the rooms using a marble and piping. It was designed by companies called HLM, JuJu Ross Design and A&J Hilliard.
This is the Extra-Ordinary House and designers Glenn Howells Architects say they were inspired by one of the most popular kinds of houses - the terraced house. They are fans of the design of a terraced house because it's simple yet durable.
Play House is a toy theatre with dressing rooms, scenery and lifts. The theatre features working scenery lifts and curtains in the fly tower, making all floors accessible to its actors and audience. Designers DRDH architects and Anne Katrine Dolvensay they hope the future owners will use the house to create their own worlds.
Fat Architecture and artist Grayson Perry have come up with this design they call Tower of Fable. It's based on a real tower block in London called Balfron Tower. The dolls' houses are up for auction to raise money for the charity Kids.