Day 02 of my OpenHouse 2012 itinerary featured three distinctive buildings, all located in a nearby neighbourhood of Kensington High Street.

First up was the interesting flat called The LuxPod. The LuxPod was near and dear to my heart simply because I couldn’t conceive that there might actually be a shoebox smaller than mine that someone could actually live in!

At 13 square metres (!) the LuxPod is a super clever and inspired studio. You’d never believe it but in that tiny space there is a fully functioning:
– living area,
– kitchen,
– bathroom (complete with underfloor heating and a heated mirror wall.)

You also of course have a place to sleep in the form of a double-bed and all the high-end gadgets you could ask for including a smashing speaker system with ipod/iphone dock, a flatscreen TV, electric curtains and a super-cool lighting system.

Yes, admittedly you need to be rather tidy and you need to be moving your furniture around a bit but the way the whole flat has been designed actually makes it all fairly easy to manage. Not surprisingly you need to reserve your spot to go and see this house on OpenHouse weekend (since it could probably fit at the most four or five people in the space.) However, if you want to check it out outside of OpenHouse weekend I’m sure proud owner Judith Abraham would be more than happy to show you around. She was incredibly friendly during our visit and definitely deserves to be proud of what she has achieved with the flat.

From new to old my second building for the day saw me strolling back up to and down Kensington High Street to the Former Commonwealth Institute and future Design Museum. The building has stood empty for nearly a decade but with money to invest the Design Museum plans to relocate here in 2014. The Commonwealth Institute used to house an exhibition celebrating the 54 nations of the Commonwealth. The building itself, with its radial design extending from a circulate platform located exactly at mid-point of the height and diameter of the building, is the symbolic centre of the world of the Commonwealth. The copper roof itself was specifically designed to allow harmonization with the greens of Holland Park and the tent-line exterior to blend with the soft treelines of the park.

A more creative photographer than me would have had an amazing time with all the interesting angles and shot possibilities in this empty space. Beautiful even if a work in progress.

Finally a quick stop at the Leighton House (Museum.) The centerpiece of the house was the entrance hall with a beautiful display of gorgeous Islamic tiles and this really set the tone for the rest of the house. Full of dark rich colours – I like how each of the chairs seated a pine cone. The garden or backyard really was lovely too. Shame no photos allowed inside … hence my short visit. Ha ha.