Theres an interview with Lenny Kravitz with some pics of his ultra cool house in todays Sunday Times in the UK. During the interview Lenny mentions about how house proud he is and that EVERYBODY has to take their shoes off before entering. However the only person to refuse was Prince which Lenny was ok with cos "prince is the man!".

Lenny's pad is absolutely amazing - anyone see it during that brilliant Mick Jagger documentary last year?

It's SUCH a rock-star shag pad...it's like Austin Powers meets Barbarella - then times it by a 1,000 on the cool scale!
I found some pix - but I couldnt find any of the outdoor pool which is surrounded by 3 walls of convex mirrors! Also was looking 4 pix of the amazing chill out space, but only found one tiny pic (last one below).

And I aint even gonna START on the bedroom!!!




Lenny's Lair

(Text by Ginger Moro - Photographs by David Glomb)

Lenny Kravitz's Panton-inspired Miami getaway
Mirroring the personal style of his client, designer Michael Czysz of Architropolis creates an arresting environment of vibrant color and modern furnishings which is a cool fusion of 1970s retro and 21st century hip for rock star Lenny Kravitz's Miami getaway.

The key to success in interior design and the recording industry lies in the mix. Michael Czysz, of Architropolis, created a spectacular two million dollar pad and recording studio for rock star, Lenny Kravitz, in Miami, Florida. Czysz, a master of maximalism, understands the culture which values effusion over restraint, and transformed a Fifties ranch house into an entertainer's hedonistic showplace.

The austere grey of a curving concrete building combined with a futuristic stainless steel gate is a standout in this modest community of unremarkable1950s white stucco homes on Biscayne Bay. A powder-blue 1958 vintage Thunderbird convertible with white leather upholstery sits in the driveway. This is rock star Lenny Kravitz's pad and recording studio. He comes here to decompress between gigs, and to write and record his songs. Interior designer Michael Czysz, (pronounced, appropriately enough, "sizz" as in "sizzle") the principal of Portland, Oregon-based Architropolis, designed this retro-futuristic retreat for Lenny in 1999. It's still under construction; a work in progress.

The T-Bird in front sets the tone. Its big, round tail lights are repeated as circular elements in the sand-blasted glass entry wall, as well as on the ceilings and walls of the living room and bar. Luminous walls like these were originally conceived in 1969 by Danish designer Verner Panton. Kravitz has recorded updated versions of1970s rock, so this haven was designed to be a cool marriage of 1970s retro and 21st century hip. What Modern was and will be.

What raw material was Michael Czysz given to work with? "I didn't much like the neighborhood, or the existing house when I first saw it. But then I was turned on by the view of Biscayne Bay and told Lenny we could make something special out of this, even though it wasn't a from-the-ground-up project. The original house was significantly smaller, one of the two houses in the community with a flat roof. What is now the living room had been an outdoor space which was roofed over. There were strict limitations imposed by the building codes. We couldn't change the perimeters of the existing house, but we did change some of the interior walls." The 2,000-square foot living room comprises half the area of the house. Czysz kept some of the same exterior proportions. "Many of the curves were already there, but we cleaned up the elevations, and extended the inside to the outside."

I asked Michael how a designer handles client and architectural constraints. "Isn't it vital on every project to change the negative into a positive; to convert the limitations into creativity?" "Yes, I agree with you," he answered. "This Kravitz house is very simple because of the constraints. We'd have had more subtleties if we'd designed from the ground up. But you learn to deal with a predetermined envelope. The people I work with are more my patrons than clients. They want an impact, but it takes discipline. I have a huge respect for my clients. We argue only about the things that are important."

"Lenny was really insatiable when he bought the house; he's used to instant gratification. He wanted me to quickly change this GoodFellas Jewish bachelor pad into a retro retreat. Where to begin? I mentioned the word 'tunnel,' and he said, 'Oh shit, that sounds cool,' and gave me one million dollars and carte blanche to perform the remodeling. He promised not to see it until it was finished. Then he went off on tour and we stripped everything down. Lenny never saw the house during construction, but he'd call from different hotels almost every day to check it out. I'd fill him in, using musical terms to describe the progress."

I asked Michael how long he and Lenny had known each other to engender that kind of rare designer/client trust. "When we first met in L.A., we were in our teens, both looking for a style. Now we're a couple of Geminis with big mood swings, just turned 35." How have they evolved stylistically over the years? Michael remembers: "Lenny was into the Sixties, and I was more into Bauhaus and the International Style - Le Corbusier and Mies. I wanted structure. He was less inclined to wear tailored, and I was less inclined to get emotional. We're both appreciative of opposite poles. Lenny can be really extreme."

Some of the rock star's love of funk has rubbed off on Michael's designs. At night, the house exterior is a shock to passersby. "The house presents this grey, Zen-like minimalist facade. But then you see the dinosaur eye of the front door which is laminated purple, and lit by the flashing lights of the entry hall. The whole house pulsates." Inside the entrance to the front door, there's a reflecting pool contained within glittering walls of silvered bubble mirrors. On a sunny day, the sky and water are endlessly reflected. These acrylic Op Art bubble mirrors recalling the1970s, are used thruout the house, reflecting the different colors and moods of each room and its occupants.

A bank of a thousand flashing lights set in stainless steel walls, and a mirrored ceiling, welcomes the visitor to the entrance hall. We were immediately beamed into the white faux fur-lined tunnel of love leading to the living room. The foxy walls are lined with lights, and a metal catwalk points towards the red acrylic silently sliding doors. (This reminded me of the erotic fur-lined entrance to the1960s Surrealist Exhibition in Paris. All that's missing was the sound track of passionate heavy breathing.)

Those doors cost $30,000. Michael explains: "There's a motion sensor that kicks in four feet before you get to the door, then closes two feet behind you. We had to design heavy doors that could stand the traffic that ordinary slim doors wouldn't handle." The transition from the warm and fuzzy entrance to the hard-edged blazing red of the living room is startling. A rock star must be showman before musician, and this is Lenny's personal Showroom and Vegas Lounge.

The million dollar adjacent recording studio and sound system provide musical backup for the show. Michael calls it "the best nightclub in the United States." There's a red sheet-vinyl dance floor for boogying at night, but the rest of the room is covered with a hot-red shag rug. The ceiling is red-tinted plexiglass. The luminous red walls behind the bar are punctuated, floor to ceiling, with circular concave light elements, and custom speakers of the same dimensions. "There are no gels on the lights in this room; the tone is what it is," says Michael.

Red reverse-painted glass sheaths the rear wall by the studio and kitchen, reflecting the Miami skyline across the bay. Acrylic bubble mirror tiles beam distorted images from the ceiling over the vinyl floor and along one entire wall. Lenny shoots pool, barefoot, with his friends on the stainless steel pool table which shimmers with red reflections. Red, red, RED throbs like the insistent drum track which emanates from the recording studio walls. This is sensory overload.

There are House Rules: no shoes are allowed on the 3" thick shag rug which covers half of the living room floor, and all of both bedrooms. (Spike heels could be lethal.) The single-color theme is interrupted by the white padded leather bar which is pierced by portholes lit from within. The bar stools are white, as are the occasional Saarinen Tulip tables set by the 40-foot-long tangerine and persimmon built-in sofa that snakes across the room between chrome-wrapped columns. Black puff ball shag cushions match the faux black fox blanket reserved for cuddling on chilly nights. (There is no fireplace - this is Miami Beach).

It's all in the musical mix: red is the drum beat; and the bubble mirrors are like recurring overdubs. How did Michael and Lenny turn on to the bubble mirror theme? "A dealer brought us one of those cast glass Op Art mirrors in a frame, about three feet square. We liked the look. I like simple and bold, not simple and boring. I wanted to make this Big, so I toyed with the idea of making all the exterior walls of silver bubbles!" "But wouldn't that have driven your neighbors crazy, not to mention reflection sunburn?" I asked. "Yeah, that's why we couldn't do it. But then the silver bubbles led to the red bubbles, and then the bubbles got inverted for the light wall." "And that's where Verner Panton came in?" "I didn't know Panton's work. We were already working on the light wall idea, when somebody brought me the Panton book, and I said, Wow, that's it!"

There are craftsmanship construction problems in Miami. "You'll notice that all the walls are scribed - there are no moldings. We brought workers from Oregon to take care of that. Here they're not into tolerance; if the walls don't meet exactly, they slap on a molding. We also had some trouble with the double stick tape which held the bubbles to the drywall ceiling. We'd planned for expansion/contraction, but with a dead flat roof, you're going to have leaks, and the water damage wrecked the paper tape."

I mentioned that the mystery of a single bubble mirror is lost when you're faced with a whole wall of them. "Yes, but it's fascinating to stand and stare at your reflection. You get a wide angle effect bouncing off each bubble. Then you look up at the ceiling, down one row, and all the distorting angles are spectacular. We blew up those bubble mirror and light wall elements for Lenny's concert tour set. Each one was four feet square, with the color changing behind the bubbles. They said it couldn't be done with mirrors that size, but we did it," Michael declared.

What's in a color? Red alone excites irrepressible emotions. Orange sets some people's teeth on edge, to others it's revivifying. Red and orange together are said to stimulate the appetite. But wait - where's the dining room in this retro-futuristic retreat? There's a small round table tucked into a corner of the kitchen, but dining is an afterthought in this house - maybe the result of years of Concert Tour room service. The kitchen, behind red plexiglass doors, is stark white when the cook is at work. "Then an ambient mode kicks in, with a fiber optic spectrum of colors visible from the living room," Michael explained.

Czysz says: "We were told that we were going to have trouble with all that red - that it makes some people agitated. But we were breaking down the intimidation factor. We made the furniture different tones of red. It's amazing how people get together and relate in that room.

For guest dining, we've ordered a large teak table which can seat 16 on the outdoor patio by the pool."

Other hungers are satisfied in Lenny's "heavy petting room." This recreational lounging landscape is composed of interlocking multi-hued units; floor, ceiling, and cushions undulate into nooks and crannies where anything goes. In this homage to Verner Panton, Czysz recreated a spatial and color sequence of upholstered plywood sections, without furniture or lamps to destroy the total unity. Panton's original space, exhibited in Cologne at the 1970 "Visiona II" exhibition, was touted as "the environment of the future," though nobody believed it at the time. Czysz proved it 30 years later: "We had material especially dyed hot pink and red shading down to purple, and blue." The first unit is a white laminated plastic portal with Panton's signature hole to peer thru, then Czysz kicked it up a notch with the addition of a white shag-upholstered "kitty box" loft deep in the depths of the womb room. "We wanted to make this space deeper than Panton's original concept, so now there's a place to go. Somebody could be doing something scandalous in the living room, and you would never know it in there." Or vice versa.

Kravitz is divorced from Lisa Bonet (who played Bill Cosby's daughter on TV). Their daughter, 12 year old Zoe, occupies the second bedroom in the house dominated by a circular white bed, with space for clothes and makeup - all that matters at her age. One wall is covered with one-inch-square silver mirror tiles. Lenny escorted Zoe to the Grammy 2000, where he won "Best Male Rock Vocal Performance" for his rendition of Guess Who's, American Woman, from the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me. Lenny is devoted to Zoe: "She is my life," he said. For her birthday he dedicated Little Girl's Eyes to her. "I could have given her something material, but a song was more meaningful."

The master bedroom amatorium is as cool as the rest of the house is hot. The white leather bed is covered with an inviting faux white mink spread. Two sexy cuddle-up armchairs are upholstered in the same material. The rug is wall-to-wall white shag. The vaulted ceiling and walls are entirely clad in minuscule blue mirrored tiles. Michael comments, "The white and blue bedroom is perfect for him. Lenny lying on that faux white mink bed is spectacular. When we were styling it, I described it to him on the phone as a '50s Playboy white mink playground à la Hugh Heffner. He liked that."

In the animal kingdom, the male is the most alluring, with luxuriant mane or magnificent feathers to attract his mate. This applies to rock stars, big time. Next to the bedroom is Lenny's personal Peacock Alley with white formica walls where he can preen his pierced body parts and off-the-shoulder tattoo in the three-way mirror.

There's a choice of full-length faux fur or ponyskin coats by Versace and Vivienne Westwood hanging in the closet, to be flung over a python jacket, flairs, and hand-stitched cowboy boots. The resplendent peacock is then primed to serenade his current peahen on the chrome '60s Flying V guitar designed for him by Czysz. Lenny has 300 guitars, most of them vintage.

The master bath is small but dramatic. The sink, which Czysz designed, and the throne are sheathed in gold heavy-metal-flake paint, as befits Rock royalty. The circular concave lights of the luminous wall of the living room are repeated on the gilded bathroom wall. Three round illuminated mirrors are stacked up over the sink. The guest bath is another story. "The lines between the public and private spaces are blurred. Very sensual. That whole second room is a shower, you know, with transparent walls, so de-pending on the lighting, you can see in if you're walking by."

"Contrary to what you might think, this is really a private house, as well as a workplace," Michael insists. "Lenny loves his studio, and is working on a new album which is completely different from anything he's done before - tough and raw. We made the studio all black patent leather and chrome, almost S & M. We even reupholstered the Barce-lona chairs in patent leather. The bubble mirrors by the entrance pool are really two-way mirrors which cover the passageway be-tween the studio and sound booth. The musicians can admire the reflecting pool as they go back and forth. I don't know any professional studio that offers that! At night, the reflection wall becomes translucent; it's what I call '2nd intention architecture.' In the rest of the house we keep the stress level down, but in the studio, there's a real change to hard-core vibe."

"At Architropolis, we're creating environments as opposed to just interiors. Designing is not a job - it's a lifestyle." Lenny draws musical inspiration from each of the pads designed for him by Michael Czysz: the Blues from New Orleans; Caribbean rhythm from Eleuthera (their next project on the Bahamian island); and retro-funk from Miami. Again, it's all in the mix. "Lenny's pad in New Orleans is a 200-year old building with exposed brick and beams. There are slaves' quarters in the back where you can still see charred wood. There's a big difference between the mentality and the hours of New Orleans and Miami. An artist has to hang out and listen to the environment." Lenny's New Orleans house is eclectic, with velvet couches and old chandeliers. "There are some similarities in the layouts of my houses, but otherwise they're all different."

Besides Panton, who was Czysz's mentor? "I admire Frenchman Philippe Starck's work because he's not limited to architecture and interiors. I would like to be the American Philippe Starck." Michael may get his chance to reach this goal: he's working on his design for the "W" boutique hotel to be erected next to Starck's Delano Hotel in Miami Beach.

I wondered if Lenny was nervous about coming to see the house the first time. "He liked everything he heard about it, but he was reluctant to leave the club that night. You know, two people can't imagine the same thing. Even if you're best friends, you worry about 'what if I don't like it?' But when he saw the 456 Ferrari in the driveway, and we walked through the house he flipped. I had sexy lounge music playing, gardenias in one room, and incense burning in another. It was pretty dramatic." Lenny said, "It was so shocking and beautiful - just a mood."

This house is a "womb with a view." Biscayne Bay glimmers thru the red and orange voile curtains that cover the tinted windows in the living room. The swimming pool is encased in the same grey concrete as the curving roof overhang and exterior walls. "The back yard pool and jacuzzi were fixed. We had to keep that as it was, but we built the concrete massing around the side of the pool."

There are neighbors' boat docks on either side of the house, but Lenny doesn't sail or swim in the Bay. "I've never seen anyone swim there," said his assistant, Shana. "The Bay is only for boats." When the sun sets over the Bay, passing ships must wonder at the origin of the competing fiery glow emanating from the Kravitz house in the east. Only in Miami Beach are there two sunsets.
[This message was edited Sun Oct 26 9:06:15 PST 2003 by bananacologne]

Its a bloody cool pad. I 2 saw it on the documentary about Mick Jagger. Where do they get all this money though!? I see peeps on MTV Cribs who Ive never heard of and they have fantastic houses!