Villa SSK by Takeshi Hirobe Architects | Gallery

You read that right. There’s a day dedicated to celebrating that remarkable woman in your life. But it’s not only for female romantic partners, either. National Girlfriends Day is a holiday for raising your glass and making a toast towards the special bond of friendship between the girls. May they be your dearest of friends, co-workers, BFFs, mothers, sisters, or sisters from different mothers. “Friendships between women are different than friendships between men....

Planning to make your own mark on the high seas? If money was no object, the YacthPlus by Foster + Partners would be the ultimate sea-faring signature. This mammoth, 41-meter super yacht stretches across the waters in the highest of fashions, sparing no expense on furnishing or feature. YachtPlus is lined with natural hardwood decking, floor-to-ceiling windows, top-of-the-line electronics and smart, progressive styling. The YachtPlus line of boats will include the Ocean Sapphire and the Ocean Emerald....

If you like the idea of having your own little escape without having to leave your property, Zendome should certainly be on your radar. That “second space” can add quite a bit to your lifestyle, be it for an outdoor den, a guest house or a point of focus for your back yard patio. The Zendome is the next milestone in the evolution of the traditional yurt, this one with a focus on modern design sensibility....

Fortunately for us mere mortals, many designers have mastered the art of transforming interiors that turn tiny living spaces into big, functional homes. Here is a rundown of modular transforming interiors that we all would want to live in. Transforming Pop-Up House by TallerDE2 Architects Imagine an apartment you can reconfigure in different ways by simply activating and deactivating individual parts of its infrastructure. The Pop-Up House by TallerDE2 Architects is designed as a one-person flat with panels that hide components and utilities, and partitions that can be moved around to form the inhabitant’s desired space....

When you’re working with limited space, it can be difficult to imagine your home having a lush garden. So, you often have to work with patios, window boxes, and growing your plants indoors. Essential Reading: How Often to Water Succulents One of the most popular plant choices for indoor growth are succulents. Not only are succulents beloved by plant enthusiasts, but they’re also fairly easy to take care of. However, there’s a vast amount of succulents to choose from....

Some companies have seen the light. These brands know that animal testing isn’t the path to a sustainable future, and it damages them in the long run. They’ve joined in standing with the Humane Society’s Be Cruelty Free campaign by signing a pledge. That pledge states that they’ll never use their products to injure animals, and won’t support any brand that does. These 13 sterling companies not only make amazing goods, but ones you can also feel good buying....

The answer was in the new lines of gluten-free beers being manufactured the world over. Gluten Explained in 35 Words Gluten itself is a binding agent within many grains that hold proteins together, giving the grain’s body of a fuller structure and making it more malleable. When cooked, gluten helps make bread fuller and lighter. What Makes a Beer Gluten-Free? A Gluten-free beer is one that uses a grain that does not contain gluten, or has had the gluten removed during brewing....

To give you a taste of what is out there, we walked the Earth and sat through untold lectures just to find the 15 strangest museum installations for enjoyable learning that is worth far more than the price of admission. Interactive Expedition Health Exhibit Located at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, the Interactive Expedition Health Exhibit allows visitors to sign in, and then explore multiple stations where they learn about the adaptive nature of their own bodies, and can check much of their personal information to track their own physiology....

Then again, if you’re headed to work on your slick commuter bike or donning your best leather dress shoes for a night on the town, the last thing you want is a cloudburst. Which is why you need a quality raincoat – to shrug off the weather while looking like at least a thousand bucks. We’ve chosen a combination of rain gear for every activity and any style, so whether you’re walking the dog, hiking the hills, or spending a night bar-hopping downtown Miami, you’ve got something to keep you dry without looking like a military poncho....

While many of us love to ogle the latest in sports cars, motorcycles or even mopeds, there are some who have a special place for the monster machines of the world. The 2010 Heavy Equipment Calendar is precisely their kind of pornography, an excellently-produced series of photographs of the world’s builders, dozers, pushers and shovers. This calendar captures 12 different big-bodied behemoths in action, moving the earth and making it look easy....

The new 2014 Cadillac CTS is powered by three engine options, the best of which can beat 60mph from a standing start in under five seconds. That optional engine is a 3.6L twin-turbo V-6 which pushes 415 horses without adding much to the curb weight. The base model of the 2014 CTS is powered by a 2.0L turbo I-4 which boasts 272 horsepower, a stat closely matching what the old V6 could do on the last model....

The 3Dvarius is an electric violin that’s produced with 3D printed plastic parts and conventional strings. It takes some of its shape from scans of a real Stradivarius violin, giving it quite the pedigree for quality. Despite feeling (and looking) a bit strange, it’s played just like any violin you could buy elsewhere. Place the bow on the strings and make this baby sing. Check out the 3Dvarius in action:...

[All Photos and Video by Seamus Payne for TheCoolist.com. Follow Seamus on Instagram.] RELATED STORY: A Firsthand Look at Washington D.C.’s Hot Hotel, Neighborhood and Restaurant Options for 2015 Travel 1. The Surreal, Hypnotic “Light Tunnel” of the National Gallery of Art The amazing light tunnel of the National Gallery of Art is one of D.C.’s best-kept secrets. It occupies a pedestrian tunnel beneath two wings of the gallery, a section of the building that most visitors might miss....

To circumvent disaster, you need to have a hosting company with the infrastructure and survival rate to (almost) never fail. There’s no such thing as bombproof, but there is a wide gap between decent and secure. Once that’s been wrapped up, you must consider what kind of site you’re going to be hosting, so as to get the right bandwidth to fit. A streaming site with video content needs more than a text and photo job....

The RetroSuperFuture Tuttolente Collection features six of Super’s most popular frames designed entirely in lens glass. The result is a uniform color and transparency, which yields a futuristic look from ear to brow. The variance between designs is pretty wild, but all of them present a vivid, tomorrow-friendly appeal. RetroSuperFuture built the Tuttolente Collection by using a single sheet of Zeiss lens material. That’s the same source of some of today’s most sought after pro photography lenses....

This summer, Mathgoth Gallerie in Paris, France commissioned Mademoiselle Maurice to apply her infamous urban origami skills to a condemned Parisienne apartment building that’s soon to be demolished. Their collective goal was to pay tribute to the building’s residents, who will lose their homes as a result of the demolition. At the same time, they hoped that the installation would draw attention to the issue of displacement as a result of gentrification....

The epitome, some would say, of an American success story, and is it even possible that he did it while wearing a set of white crew socks over his feet? Artifice! Nor did he do it barefoot, because Hef knew, above all, that feet are weird looking and walking around with them unclothed was to slide back into the days of prehistory, when humankind was afraid of the moon and worshipped fire....

Chronoswiss has unveiled the new Chronoswiss TimeMaster GMT Chronograph at Baselworld 2010, the Geneva Motor Show of watches. Chronoswiss’ latest timepiece is a modern watch with a classic sensibility, a design that is at once complex and simple thanks to meticulous spacial consideration. Its black-and-white theme is accented by an orange GMT hand, date display and “GMT” moniker, giving the watch a subtle sense of contrast. Extending from the right side of the watch’s ribbed case is a large, gem-like winder that adds to the watch’s strong, asymmetrical character....

Not surprisingly, there are plenty of solutions on the market if one wants to keep a close eye on their residence. Of these, Eve may well be the most comprehensive suite I’ve yet seen. Designed by Elgato, Eve consists of a family of sensors that monitor, well…pretty much everything. There are six components to Eve: room, weather, water, door & window, smoke, and energy. Together, sensors detect the air quality in your home, they monitor its energy and water consumption, humidity, and they report on the ambient air pressure....