Artist Susan Landau loves to look at things in new ways. Her life philosophy, that flexibility and fun are necessary elements of a full life, is reflected in her contemporary home filled with all sorts of industrial materials -- metal, glass, stainless steel, corrugated plastic, chain link and concrete -- combined in delightfully inventive ways. Because people tend to spend most of their time in a single favorite room, she designed a house without walls, where every room flows one into the other. With its change-the-look furnishings, many outfitted with wheels for easy movement (figure A), the entire house can be her favorite room. Sometimes the living room is near the concrete fireplace, and sometimes the dining room is set up in front of the fireplace (figure B). She's also intrigued by the idea of blurring the boundaries between indoor and outdoor space. Patio walls and ceiling made of industrial glass and corrugated blue plastic cause an intriguing confusion of indoor and outdoor space (figure C). Her enchantment with bamboo-look metal furniture led her to develop a similar look of her own. By circling stainless steel tubing with evenly spaced concentric weld marks, she's given the legs of her fabricated tables the look of metal bamboo (figure D). The industrial look continues in the kitchen, with rows of metal shelving fronted with rolling chain-link doors. The lacy chain link allows a peek at stacks of beautiful china and affords the china protection in the event of an earthquake (figure E ). An intricate mesh stainless-steel conveyor belt, formerly used in bakery operations, leads a new life as a delicate curtain (figure F).
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