In This Issue
Tíu Dropar?
The Icelandic idiom means Ten Drops, referring mostly to coffee but sometimes wine.
And it’s an essential philosophy of Minarc, the award-winning design firm best known for blurring boundaries between inside and out. In this issue, you will also find an intersection of cultures, Iceland and Southern California, where principals Erla and Tryggvi first arrived nearly two decades ago.
In Iceland, natives share a formidable bond to the natural environment, but also to neighborliness, becoming essential to one’s livelihood during long, harsh winters. Across continents, Minarc creates spaces with this inclusive community vision — to be lived in, shared — from a stargazing hotel lobby on a UNESCO Heritage Site to a sunlit multi-gen home in LA.
Also in this issue, functional minimalism gives way to new ideas like Plús Hús, a sustainable Accessory Dwelling Unit created as a solution to California’s housing crisis. The structure is not merely a teeny homage to cool Nordic design, but a resourceful blueprint for new California urbanism where dreams begin in the backyard.