The man who changed the way we do hair, Vidal Sassoon, passed away yesterday at the age of 84. Sassoon, who gave Mia Farrow her signature look for “Rosemary’s Baby”, credited the Bauhaus movement for his “geometric style.”

“My whole work, beginning in the late 1950s, came from the Bauhaus,” explains Vidal. “It was all about studying the bone structure of the face, to bring out the character. I hated the prettiness that was in fashion at that time.

Sassoon told Architectural Digest that “Architects have always been my heroes.” His Richard Neutra house in Bel Air was featured in the magazine last spring.

Photo via Architectural Digest

Photo via Architectural Digest

Photo via Architectural Digest

To see more of Vidal Sassoon’s home visit www.architecturaldigest.com.

Library ladders have been showing up in almost every room in the home. From kitchens to living rooms, you’ll find ladders are used as an easy way to reach those top shelves. We love how versatile a library ladder is, it can function as a decorative element and as a functional part of the space. Take a look at how these library ladders are used throughout the home.

The Kitchen:

Photo via Casa Bella Decor

The Bedroom:

Photo via Caribbean Living Blog

A Little Nook:

Photo via Apartment Therary

The Mud Room:

Photo via Pinterest

The Living Room:

Photo via Pinterest

Add some interest to your home by bringing in a library ladder for those hard to reach places.

Saturday was Cinco De Mayo, a holiday that many Americans celebrate, but don’t really know the significance of the day.  Cinco De Mayo commemorates the Mexican army’s victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. According to Houzz, “The French intervention in Mexico lasted only six years — from 1861 to 1867 — but the influence of the French on Mexican culture was more far reaching.” Houzz examines the impact the French colonial and baroque styles had on Mexican architecture.

Take a look at 5 ways the French influenced Mexican architecture and design, via Houzz.

1. “Large windows and French doors”

Photo via Houzz

2. “Gilded Accents”

Photo via Houzz

3. “Large Staircases”

Photo via Houzz

4. “New facade materials”

Photo via Houzz

5. “Door Reliefs”

Photo via Houzz

We were pleasantly surprised to see Adam Levine’s, the Maroon 5 front man and a judge on the hit NBC show The Voice, affinity for mid-century modern. His 1940s Hollywood Hills home, which was featured in Architectural Digest, is a mix between vintage and contemporary style pieces.

In the home a Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg portrait shares the space with a 1960s sideboard by Arturo Pani.

Photo via Architectural Digest

Photo via Architectural Digest

Photo via Architectural Digest

Photo via Architectural Digest

Levine tells Architectural Digest that “Furnishing a home is no different than going into the studio and making music. You want to make sure you’ve pared down all the extra details so that in the end, every stitch has a context uniquely yours.”

To see more of Adam Levine’s home visit www.architecturaldigest.com.

Trilogy Partners’ Steamboat House project was featured in Architectural Digest. To view the article click here.

The front entrance of your home makes a lasting first impression and sets the tone for the rest of the interior. Here are some pointers that we think might help in creating a great first impression.

1. It’s all about the lighting. If you have the height don’t be afraid of installing a statement piece in the form of lighting at your entrance.

2. Bring some of nature indoors. Living and working in Colorado, we find it is important to incorporate the outdoor elements inside our homes.

Photo from Trilogy Partners

3. Picking the perfect front doors. The first thing your visitors will see, the front doors are the gateway into your home.

Photo from Trilogy Partners

How do you create the perfect front entrance to your home?

The race to the top in design just got a little bit crazy. It seems Obayashi Corp, the developer behind Tokyo’s Sky Tree, announced their plans to build an elevator to space. No it is not April 1st, and yes we are serious. Or at least Obayashi Corp is serious.

The space elevator will be an estimated 22,370-mile high with a completion date set for 2050.

Photo via Architizer Blog

Welcome to the space age!

The 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize was recently awarded to Wang Shu of The People’s Republic of China. Mr. Wang, a 48 year old architect, is the first Chinese citizen to win the prize. I. M. Pei, an American, was the first Chinese-born architect to win, in 1983.  Now Wang Shu will join the likes of follow Pritzker winners such as Phillip Johnson, who won the first prize, Richard Meier, Frank Gehry and Norman Foster to name a few.

Lv Hengzhong A history museum by Wang Shu in Ningbo, China. Photo via The New York Times.

According to the New York Times,”The prize, founded in 1979 by Jay A. Pritzker and his wife, Cindy, to honor a living architect, consists of a $100,000 grant and a bronze medallion, which this year will be awarded at a ceremony in Beijing on May 25.”

Thomas J. Pritzker, chairman of The Hyatt Foundation which sponsors the prized, stated “The fact that an architect from China has been selected by the jury, represents a significant step in acknowledging the role that China will play in the development of architectural ideals. In addition, over the coming decades China’s success at urbanization will be important to China and to the world. This urbanization, like urbanization around the world, needs to be in harmony with local needs and culture. China’s unprecedented opportunities for urban planning and design will want to be in harmony with both its long and unique traditions of the past and with its future needs for sustainable development.”

We spoken about the importance of universal design on our blog and wanted to share a special project that partners renowned architect and designer Michael Graves and the US Army. The Wounded Warrior Home Project at Fort Belvoir in Virginia is helping to make coming home easier for wounded soldiers in the military.

Clark Realty Capital, the company that develops all the housing on Fort Belvoir, wanted to create a home for those who were injured and wanted to stay in the Army. 19 of these homes will be built to help accommodate wounded active-duty personnel.

Graves is a perfect fit for this project. He has been a champion for universal design since becoming paralyzed after he fell ill from an infection. Now together with the Army, Clark Realty Capital, IDEO and a number of other partners, he is on a mission to “improve quality of life for the increasing number of wounded warriors returning to active duty at Fort Belvoir.”

Photo via NPR

Read more about the Wounded Warrior Home Project at Fort Belvoir at woundedwarriorhome.org.

The Dirt has a great interview with one of the co-founders of New York City’s High Line. Living in Colorado we are surrounding by nature’s beauty, but in a city like New York, it is a little more difficult to find some green space, especially outside of Central Park.

Photo via High Line

Robert Hammond is Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of Friends of the High Line, the public park that was built atop an old, abandoned rail line on the west side of Manhattan. Hammond and Joshua David’s account on transforming the rail line into an award-winning park can be read in “The High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky.” In it Hammond talks about how he used to see parts of the abandoned rail line walking around Chelsea. He recalls that he didn’t really think much of the line until news ran that is was going to demolished. In the news coverage he learned that the rail rail line ran all the way from the Meatpacking District to Hell’s Kitchen, over a mile and a half long. Might not see, far for those of us living in Colorado, but it New York City, that is prime real estate.

To read more about Robert Hammond’s and the High Lines story click here.

The New York Times is reporting that there is a new niche for designers in the interior design industry– the recently divorced man. There are basically two scenarios in most cases of divorce, the women keeps the house or both partners decide to sell the house, either way the man is left looking for a new residence.

The Times found one designer in Los Angeles who actually prefers the divorced man above all other clients. Designer Susan Manrao tells the NYT “I realized my role in this project wasn’t simply to design a space, but to help rebuild a home.”

Manrao finds a balance designing the home for the new “bachelor” and the man trying to raise his kids. One of the most common requests says Susan is the big screened television.

Photo via The New York Times

And for the divorced dad with kids, Susan tells the Times they “often want their homes done quickly, to make the transition as smooth as possible for their children, which means they are apt to agree with her design decisions.”

Photo via The New York Times

Click here to read the article in its entirety.