arches

Trifore…Magical Triple Windows in Lebanese Houses

“In English the trifore is a triple arch, and is also known by the name “Lebanese window” and is identified with the typology of the central hall house that was common in Lebanon…This is a decorated wooden window characterized by three arched openings supported on the sides by engaged stone columns in the wall and in the center by separate columns that are mainly made of marble. The column consists of three components: a base, column and capital. The carpentry details include a wooden lattice that adorns the upper part of the window and a folding double-wing window element on its bottom part. The trifore also occurs next to the balcony – in these instances the middle unit in the trifore is constructed as a door. “

One of the joys of change is how it can alter our vision. Moving to Qatar has turned my eye towards parts of the world I didn’t think about much while I was living in Japan. I have written effusively about designer May Daouk’s Beirut home featured in Architectural Digest before, in particular the amazing arched windows in her great room. What I hadn’t quite realized was that this layout and design is not unusual and is in fact a classic style Lebanese house, with roots that stretch back through the Phoenicians, Romans, Ottomans, Venetians and others. I’m not going to show the other photos of May’s house again, so be sure to visit them in the post or the magazine. They are truly that good!

In addition to May Daouk’s home in Lebanon, I have stumbled across a few others and been amazed at the architectural consistency among them. Trifore, triple arch windows, or mandalouns as I have also seen them called, are the integral centerpiece to a great room with doors opening directly and symmetrically off to smaller chambers. Having just toured Pompeii and ancient Rome a few weeks ago, I can clearly see the links between the open courtyard centered homes there with these. The windowed axis provides cross ventilation in the summer months and copious sun for the colder months as well as views across the water or over the valleys, as traditionally they face outwards and often have a balcony. The triple window is almost always on the second floor, as we would call it, much like the Italian piano nobile that is so common to Venice. It seems very practical that the principal rooms for entertaining and living should be upstairs where the light and views are better.

The vacation home of Kamal Mouzawak and Rabih Kayrouz, a Lebanese fashion designer, that was featured in The New York Times a few years ago has the same exact setup – a grand salon with a trifore window and doors opening off to the other rooms. This home was stripped to its bones and fully renovated after having been shuttered since Lebanon’s civil war in the 1980s. It was very sensitively done – about 70% of the original stone floors were taken up, restored and replaced. The decorating here is the antithesis of that in May Daouk’s home, being as spare as hers was richly layered. But both versions work. My eye can’t help but be drawn to the oval tulip table in front of the windows, proof again that that table works anywhere. I am excited as mine is on the boat from Malaysia as I type.

From this angle you can see more clearly how the other rooms open directly off the great room. Inset transom panels were painted in the early 20th century by Lebanese painter Youssef Howayek.

It isn’t only in the central salon that the light is outstanding. This view of the dining room with the kitchen beyond shows the high ceilings and tall windows throughout the house. I love the colors and simplicity of this space.

Shoe storage for them seems to be just as much of an issue as it is in Japan. This antique console has been well repurposed as a shoe cupboard.

On yet a third design note is fashion designer Elie Saab’s Beirut home, designed by Chakib Richani, also featured in Architectural Digest. Saab’s house is unusual in that the central hall and main living rooms are on the ground floor, not the second floor, with an enclosed garden. The doors in the central arch open directly to the lushly planted space, rather than the more expected balcony.

The simple palette and minimalist upholstery is designed to set off the carefully placed antiques. The space is also broken into three sections with internal trifore, again similar to May Daouk’s home.

The arch motif and gothic tracery continues into the master bedroom.

I can’t resist this photo and its detail of what looks to be an amazing inlaid chest. More on inlay coming soon!

Are you as entranced by this extraordinary architecture as I am? I know it influenced me tremendously in the choosing of our Doha house, but I can feel it affecting me well beyond that choice.

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Image credits: 1. Architectural Digest, photo credit: Simon Watson, 2. via Because I Love Sand, 3-6. The New York Times, photo credit: Bryan Denton, 7-10. Architectural Digest, photo credit: Marina Faust.

Nov 25, 2013 By tokyojinja in Architecture, Design Motif, Expat Life, Glass, Interior Design 2 Comments Tags: arched windows, arches, Chakib Richani, Elie Saab, Lebanese houses, Lebanon, May Daouk, trifore, windows

Dining Room Option Three…Inspiration from T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings

Did you like geometry in high school? Algebra was OK and I hated its big brother calculus, but I sure did love geometry. Cue one of my favorite shapes – the octagon. Symmetrical like a square, but with none of its hard-edged pointy-ness, fluid like a circle, but with more structure, it is a dynamic shape for a square dining room. The Coliseum table by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings for Widdicomb has long been one of my favorite pieces of vintage furniture out there. Robsjohn-Gibbings was one of the foremost mid-century designers and taste makers whose influence is still felt today – klismos chairs anyone? Sightings of this table are rare and it is best known in the blogosphere from Dara Caponigro’s dining room featured in Domino: The Book of Decorating. (It seems very apropos to type that today as the relaunch of Domino Magazine was announced yesterday!)

Another geometric love – the arch! Gracious and welcoming, that half circle is reminiscent of everything I love about ancient architecture. Basically I chose the house here because I loved its arched pass throughs and windows. How ideal would the table be for this space!

Its combination of looks and functionality is ideal. The modern but classic lines make it work in every kind of decor. It seats 4 without being awkward and can seat 8 without even adding a table leaf. But it does have them, allowing for expansion to seat at least 12. Thanksgiving anyone?

It is rare and hard to find, being from Robsjohn-Gibbings’ final Widdicomb collection, and extremely expensive when you do find it. This one below is available on 1stdibs for $18,000. Which brings up the question how would I ever get one? And here to boot? Well, I have heard from numerous sources here that there are some craftsmen here in Doha that make furniture for very reasonable prices. Perhaps this is an opportunity to make my dream table?

Other sources of inspirations confirm my love of these motifs. When I was in England this summer I drooled over this E.W. Godwin Japanese inspired ebonized table at the Victoria & Albert Museum. It’s a circle, but it has those lovely arches in the base.

It reminded me of the other octagonal table I’ve had saved in my inspiration folder – this very precise and also Asian influenced one by Ralph Rucci. Love the brass feet on both tables!

I’m not the only one to love this look. Jenny at LGN created her own version of the Robsjohn-Gibbings table by pushing together two unusually shaped demilunes.

And in another crazy fabulous room from Susan Hable Smith (remember her living room here) she combines an antique table with both a marble top and arches in the base with vivid colors and patterns.

In all three of these last posts I have been neglecting the entire conversation around what chairs as the table, while difficult, seems like the easy part in comparison. My fantasy chairs are painted white-ish, a bit classical, a bit Scandinavian,

…a bit Hollywood Regency with a bold colored seat…

…perhaps even a bit 1930s Francis Elkins. These are sold on 1stdibs but could have been perfect, upholstery color and all.

I’d even be happy with simple oval backed Louis chairs like Dana’s in the top photo. Or maybe the perfect chair would be a klismos? The exact version all depends on the table choice.

So I’d love to hear from all of you. Of the three choices, which do you like best? Why? Should I combine elements of different schemes or have you got other suggestions? The truth is there is much timing, practicality and possibly some impossibility at play here that will require compromise, but let’s see where I can go with this.

Oct 4, 2013 By tokyojinja in Doha Move, Furniture, Interior Design 8 Comments Tags: arches, Dana Caponigro, dining chairs, dining room, dining table, Domino, Domino magazine, E.W. Godwin, Jenny Komenda, octagon, octagonal table, Ralph Rucci, Susan Hable Smith, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings

Ja Mata Japan…Hello New Beginnings

So it rained pretty much the entire time of our last week in Japan and the weather on the day we left was a good indicator of my feelings. Since we’ve been home I’ve had no time to post or even lie low and sulk in the whirl of doctor’s appointments and quick visits to long-missed friends. I’m definitely in a state of denial – it doesn’t feel like I have left Japan forever – as we always spend the summer back in the US. And I know I’ll be back as I already have work visits planned for next year, but that is somehow different. For now, a chapter in our life story has finished and we are on to the next adventure, but I am continuing to feel a bit ambivalent about it all. I’ve said ja mata (see you later) but not sayonara (goodbye)!

Here at the beach things are mostly looking good. The boardwalk has not yet been entirely rebuilt since super storm Sandy, but our town was hit much more gently than some other shore villages. Although I lost a few things in the garden which is expected, the hydrangea report is excellent – to compare with the last two years, click here. I’ve still got the crazy variegated thing going on which causes people to stop and ask me how I did it, but honestly, I’m not sure.

I’ve got lots of projects up my sleeve, one including this amazing vintage sari trim. And get this, after all that crazy work on the bathroom last year, the shower has a leak. If we can’t just re-grout and re-seal, I may end up having to rip out the tile after all.

Managed to hit up a few of our antiquing spots and picked up a steal on a pair of chairs with fabulous lines for my Chicago friend and client. These are going in her living room…

…reupholstered in John Robshaw’s Lanka Oyster.

On the new horizons front, it looks like we have found a house in Doha. From my very first visit there I preferred one “compound” (think housing development) to all the others, both because I liked the architectural integrity and middle eastern lines of the houses and the very white (not beige) palette of the interior and exterior, but also because there seemed to be a sense of community centered around the pool and restaurant inside the gates. Of course everybody else likes this development too, so it was full, but my sweet husband went every week to see the managing agent to remind him of our existence on the waiting list. As luck would have it, one has become available and they are renovating as I type, which you can see by the load of construction materials out front. It’s as different from my Tokyo house as it could be.

I am an absolute sucker for all the lovely arches – door, openings and windows in the downstairs rooms. Ignore somebody’s old crib!

And the row of tiny ones in the master bedroom is divine too. The interior shell is very pure, especially when compared to some of the other places we saw.

Less exciting are the protruding can lights (how to fix those is still unresolved in my mind) and tile floor, but tiled floors seem to be de rigueur there. At least these are quite white and not brown/tan based.

I’ve had numerous inspiration photos filed away for a while, but none so apropos as Sarah Davison‘s lovely Tamarama apartment. The windows are incredibly similar, although obviously my floor can’t compete with her unglazed Moroccan terracotta tiles.

Her apartment in Sydney is in a 1920s Spanish Mission-style building, so in many ways, not that dissimilar. The living room boasts a few pieces quite like those I will be working with – Japanese screen, bamboo, and big glass bottles.

Along with the green, some lavender will be sneaking its way in there, much like the pillows on her sofa.

I have plans for a long-stored amazing piece of Chinese embroidery, an antique bed valence…

…as well as a piece of vintage silk ikat gifted to me by friend and designer Maja Lithander Smith. For more on Sarah Davison and her beautiful home, take a look at her website or the Design Sponge Sneak Peak.

Bittersweet to move on, but I am trying to roll with the excitement change can bring. And if anyone has a solution idea for those can lights, please let me know!!!!!

Jun 27, 2013 By tokyojinja in Doha Move, Expat Life, Gardens, Interior Design, Textiles 13 Comments Tags: antique textiles, arched windows, arches, byobu, Doha, hydrangea, Japan, Sarah Davison, sari trim