House on the Waterfront

Water bodies in the form of pond, lake, river, sea or ocean are always very pleasing and soothing to the eyes. The water with turquoise color, the coolness, the stillness of the water or the crashing of the waves, the sound is very pleasant and great place to relax and enjoy.

A house on the waterfront is like a dream. Recently I came cross couple of such houses in Austin overlooking the Colorado river. I would like to share some with you.

1. You have a car parking, how about boat parking



Generally people have car parking, but if you have a house or apartment on the waterfront you can have a boat parking too, just take your boat out of the driveway and off into the lake. And ofcourse from those balconies or patio you will get some great view too.



2. How about high on the hills over looking the river

If you don't want to share your boat parking space, how about a house high up on the hill.


And for these views





the house is really something

3. How about having your personal bridge to get near the water front.



Firstly, I am not sure if this an apartment building or a personal house. The size tells me its an apartment building but the design tells me its a personal house. Take a guess. If its a personal house, I am short of my ohs and ahs for the beautiful structure. To the extreme right hand corner we can see a bridge projection out. The bridge goes across a narrow street onto a private patio overlooking the river.






After seeing these beautiful houses, one can just envy the people who enjoy such houses, and more importantly the great view of the river.

An oasis in the homogenous US cities desert

If you have taken a road trip across the US or visited a number of American cities. You will notice a lot of similarities. The weather and landscape might change across cities but BIG corporation have made sure that there is certain amount of homogenization in these cities. One can see the same Taco Bells, McDonald's and other fast food joints, same stores, menus and even the same structures. The same grocery and clothing chain like Walmart and JC Penny.

The corporation might debate that the idea behind the generalization is not to confuse the general public but they have tossed out creativity and innovations in the process. Forget the stores may be a little creativity can go long way in design the store signs and store structure.

Couple of days back I came across couple of unique and funky looking stores in Austin. The stores and signs went very well with the city slogan of - Keep Austin Weird. I just couldn't help admiring their creativity and some reminded me of some great stories. Another interesting part is all these stores are located on the same street.

1. Genie Car Wash - The sign is very inviting.



2. Ichiban - Japanese restaurant. This reminded me of FRIENDS episode - Joey's Japanese ad



3. The Lightbulb Shop - I will let the sign and the store do the talking.





4. Hey Cupcake - the giant cupcake is rotating too :-)



5. Atomic Tatoo - their art speaks so loudly about their work :-)



6. Icehouse - you can't get more Texan than this



7. Clay House Studio



8. Plumbing Supply Store




If these stores can do it. Hopefully others can give creativity a thought too.