The illustrations on the wall.

Here are some great words from artist Timothy Goodman (via designworklife) about his illustration work for the ACE Hotel in New York City:

I hand drew 99 pic­ture frames to cre­ate a dense wall of “dis­cov­ery” about NYC that could be passed to the com­mon tourist stay­ing in the room. Each frame con­tains a dif­fer­ent fact / love / tid­bit / thing of inter­est / or shout-out to a place I dig in the city. At roughly 120 square feet, the art was drawn impre­cisely to cap­ture the spon­tane­ity and grit of the city. I used paint mark­ers and opaque black paint to help this tech­nique excel. Consequently, it became a labor of love, an act of obses­sive­ness that was pleas­antly grueling.

After discovering Cleavland-born Goodman‘s work for the ACE, I couldn’t help but think back to a scenic design by Rita DeAngelo (a former classmate of mine) for the show Grease. The yearbook-like portraits she painted actually looked like the actors in the show, many of which were friends with Rita – also making this project a grueling labor of love.

December 13’s daily design idea is a personal connection is a great motivator for going above and beyond.

The adult treehouse?

In an extraordinary example of impractical but stunning design, a new concept hotel recently opened in the small village of Harads in northern Sweden. It is very appropriately called Treehotel.

Inspired by the documentary film “Trädälskaren” (Treelover) by Jonas Selberg Augustsen, husband-and-wife team Britta and Kent Lindvall plan to have 24 individual rooms available within the next five years. One that’s already booking reservations – and has received substantial press, including coverage by Architectural Record – is the Mirrorcube designed by Tham & Videgård Arkitekter.

Tham & Videgård Arkitekter’s “camouflaged refuge“

According the Treehotel, “The cube provides living space for two people: a double bed, bath, a living room and roof terrace. Access to the cabin is by a rope bridge.”

“The concept is to create a shelter up in the trees,” write the architects.

Photos from Tham & Videgård Arkitekter and designboom.

July 23′s daily design idea is try a modern take on a childhood fantasy space. Obviously this approach succeeds at getting people excited about your design, especially when it’s also eco-friendly.

Hotels that give you a taste of the rainbow.

Here at Daily Design Idea, we really love designers who embrace color, so it’s no surprise that the following hotel designs have caught our attention:

First, via We Heart (May 25, 2010):

A new hotel design by dutch firm WAM architecten is, for better or worse, celebrating the city of Zaandam’s “iconic green wooden houses” through their “fantastically unique design for Inntel Hotels‘ new property,” located just outside of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Wilfried van Winden, the project’s lead designer, “has created a truly unique structure by creating the illusion that various examples of [Zaandam’s] traditional houses, ranging from a notary’s residence to a worker’s cottage, are randomly stacked upon one another.”

Second, via Apartment Therapy (May 19, 2010):

“If a trip to Brussels in in your future you can now stay at a new hotel from the company that is all about celebrating color, Pantone… Designed by Belgian interior designer Michel Penneman and Belgian architect Olivier Hannaert, each of the hotel’s seven floors are enlightened by different color palettes to complement guests’ emotions with distinctive hues – whether vivid or subdued.”

July 21′s daily design idea is is hotel design a particularly good field for color experimentation? While I’m not sure if I would want to live permanently in either of these environments, it would be a fun vacation from the semi-neutral color palette I have at home.