About Alexander Calzadilla

Alexander Calzadilla is a Cuban male originally from Philadelphia, who has happily called Miami his home since moving here at the age of 15. He attended Southwest Sr. High School and Florida International University, ultimately receiving his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. While in college, he began working as a paralegal for the Law Offices of Jeffrey E. Reichenbacher, a position he kept for seven years after graduation. He subsequently worked at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius Associates before landing at Costa Nursery. After distinguishing himself with many accomplishments, he was promoted to the position of Director of Specialty Products, which included the orchid, bonsai and lucky bamboo departments. When Alex was first put in charge of the three departments, they ranked near the bottom. By the time he left Costa after seven years, Alex had transformed the floundering departments into unqualified successes, posting record earnings, sales and profitability. In 2008 Alex was named the Costa Employee of the Year. Alex now puts his formidable prowess as a businessman into his newest venture, Avant-Garde Home Furnishings, LLC, serving as Managing Partner.

About Avant-Garde

We offer home furnishings and decor for every area of your home,both inside and out, always striving to bring you the most current design elements being used by today's top designers, at a fraction of their retail cost. Whether you are completely redecorating an area of your home, looking for the perfect accent piece to finish off an existing room, shopping for a unique gift, or simply "window shopping" to get design ideas, Avant-Garde is the place to go for everything modern & contemporary for your home.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Two very modern homes...

Two amazing Homes...

Yesterday while searching through some really cool blog postings I found the following two homes that are absolutely amazing.. I truly believe these are ideal minimal architecture, interior design, and perfect modern contemporary homes..

Enjoy the pics and post..

Beach House in Diamond Beach by Bourne Blue

Architecture

Beach House in Diamond Beach by Bourne Blue Architecture

This site, just behind the sand dunes of Diamond Beach on the north coast of NSW half is very flat and has a more modest view of wetlands. The proximity of the ocean would living by the sea, though the house could not access view of the ocean to provide the amenity. The design therefore necessary to work in this context and provide the equipment inside. This is a holiday home for a large family, who travel frequently on with other families, so facilities for 10 to 15 people were needed. A covenant on the land dictated that the house was built using the brick and tile.

The design consists of four elements, wrapped around a central courtyard. Living area, two separate sleeping areas adult and a children’s area. The living area has a slab for thermal mass and faces North. The two sleeping areas are identical adult retreats parents at opposite corners, while the area has a children’s dormitory boys and girls and TV area. Each of the four components is separated by a covered bridge, which houses two hammocks, a dining area or entrance. A shed roof wraps around the yard in all these areas, simplifying the roof drainage and with the unit.

Sliding perforated mini orb covered bridges close to the edge of the building, so they are safe when the house is not in use. They also screen the sun and adverse weather. A second set of screens wrap around the courtyard, which also protect against the elements and meet the extended absences.

Architects: Bourne Blue Architecture
Location: Diamond Beach, Australia
Photographs: Simon Whitbread

Concrete House in Rüti by AFGH

Home for a family with two children is set on a hillside vineyard old who had remained undeveloped. On the northern slope of the hill adjacent to a non-developable area, the house is surrounded by large trees. To be able to even use the site it was necessary to the terrace of the immediate environment, and the house was developed along the lines of the topography formed.

In the process, the four terraces themselves function as outdoor spaces, each corresponding to a specific interior space. Unusual topography is also reflected in the construction of the building. The connection to the land is a staircase, underground cellar widely exposed internal concrete floors insulated, above which is a prefabricated building with a facade of wood Eternit ventilated. Large plates are embossed with a prototype of the textile-like, producing a raw and haptic.

Inside, a staircase core is the center of a spatial sequence that takes place over three floors. Entry level are the children’s rooms, with cellars in the back. The floor is recessed above, creating differentiated spatial heights for different areas of the house. The doors on the intermediate level with living rooms and parents’ room allow a circular movement.

Due to building regulations, roof slopes above the living room in parallel with the ground, and runs directly on the flat roof in the studio and in the guest room upstairs. A light roof running the entire width of the building creates a character in the studio at the top, at the same time lighting the room living.

Architect: AFGH
Location: Rüti, Switzerland
Photographs: Valentin Jeck

Two absolutely amazing home designs...

AG Home Goods

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Avant-Garde Store gets easier navigation, more categories, new brands

Avant-Garde Store gets easier navigation, more categories, new brands..

As all of us here at Avant-Garde Home Furnishings, Llc continue to grow and look forward to our new showroom building opening its doors in about two months we continue to improve our website tremendously to make it easier on all our customers. We have broken down our categories even further, we have added a quick search feature that lets you search by almost any attribute as listed on tyne website.. These include

UPC

Manufacturer

Brand

Category

Subcategory

Specific Name

Partial Name

MPN Number

Color

These are but a few of the choices you have when signing onto our web based retail outlet now having over 2,200 product offerings and if you include the variation in those products we are well over the 3,000 mark. Everyday we carry more and more brand names at cheaper prices then almost anywhere. We have greatly expanded our consumer electronics section, Bedding section, lighting sections, outdoor patio selection, and of course our featured collections continue to grow and get new and exciting products. It seems new and exciting products are on every corner we happen to look and we are still working on the full website expansion and upgrade due later this year, which will have interactive menus and an even simpler user interface.. Stay tuned for that..

Expanded Bedroom section and new AGU designs website as well

Greatly Expanded Consumer Electronics

Expanded Dyson Electronics Section

Expanded Accent Furniture Benzara Line

Greatly Expanded Lighting Section

Expanded Office Selection

Please see below for some of the many changes that have taken place on our webstore:

Added the Google Plus button:

I please ask that all of you who visit the site and if you like it let me know by clicking on the plus one Google button...

Added new sections for Home Decor

Some Samples of our newly expanded Benzara Line of Products

Separated Benzara Home Decor, which is already vast from the rest of the Home Decor section, and broke it down into Accent Furniture, Benzara Lamps, Benzara Wall Metal Decor, Vases Pots, Dividers, and Mirrors and artwork.. Not only did we simplify it but we added over 250 new Benzara - Woodland Imports products

Revamped our two other sites

We completely redesigned the company information site and the AGU Designs site., or pour interior design site. We added new pictures, moved yup the construction schedule and leased our very first building that will eventually become our showroom masterpiece. Both other sites now are ready for our future growth and finally we feel express our tastes and design preference much more so then the old saites. Please have a look and let me know what all of you think..

Expanded our featured collections

Of course as I mentioned earlier we continue to obtain new products to keep our featured lines moving and the public energized about them.. We have many new and exciting products, especially in the Nambe and Kosta Boda sections

Come visit us and see for yourself all the great stuff and changes taking place NOW at Avant-Garde Home Furnishings, LLC..

Our Grand Opening Celebration Flyer.. For our offices - Showroom in Jan 12

As I said we are all very excited here at Avant-Garde about all these exciting changes.. We hope some of you will join us here at our offices on November 5th for drinks and some snacks to welcome us home....

AG Home Goods

Monday, October 24, 2011

Two Cool Modern Homes...

Today while searching through some older material I found the following postings to two of the most amazing homes I have ever seen. I decided that I should share these with all of you..

Enjoy the pics and post....

Cool Modern Wooden House Design in Lopez Island with Asian Style

wonderful modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

Here are the beautiful house design in Lopez Island with Asian style. this style of home and the modulation of forms. The structure comprises the main house with an isolated upper level master and the studio which houses his and hers art spaces. the studio is connected to the house via an arcade which also serves as the main approach to the house. This 1800 sf home is located on a heavily wooded,medium-bank waterfront property on Lopez Island, Washington. uilt with wooden material and designed with contemporary asian style. Create to connect with nature around. A lot of trees around this house, make a special feel for this home. The structure of the home runs by a nearby river. This allowed an orientation that brings light and warmth and provides beautiful views of the surroundings. The house forms are simple, derived from the site relationships and the desire to maximize daylight. The materials are honest and enlivening – hard vs. soft, warm vs. cool. It is a home designed for modern island living. now check the cool modern house design in Lopez Island picture below:

cool natural modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

natural garden in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

classic and cool kitchen design in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

comfy and white bedroom design in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

living room and dining layout in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

wooden staricase and layout design in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

stone terrace and natural landscape in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

wooden terrace floor with natural view in modern wooden house cool design in lopez island

Stunning Home Design Concept without Symmetrically Garaged

home design concept ideas without symmetrically garaged

Here are the stunning home design concept without symmetrically garaged. This home called “Avenue” in the Blackburn suburb of Melbourne, Australia, Design by Neil Architecture. According the Neil: The concept was developed in response to the challenge of inserting two residences on a single block in an established suburban street without the ubiquitous symmetrically garaged frontage in homage to the car! As a rejection of this prevailing model the project sought to sensitively provide a high quality infill development as a modest and discreet intervention to the streetscape. The key element in the development of the concept is the rammed earth wall, which serves at once as a party wall and boundary identifier, and as an anchor grounding the dwellings and holding them in the landscape. One of our primary aims was the development of a sensitive typology for urban consolidation in what is an established outer suburban fringe setting. The lack of defining boundary elements along the street preserves the original landscape features and serves to unify the streetscape appearance and reinforce the prevailing neighbourhood character. Now look the stunning home design conceptwithout symmetrically garaged with picture below: