Archinect - News

The architectural styles of Game of Thrones, Studio Ghibli and other popular fantasy

2018-08-28T15:17:00-04:00

Creating a fantasy world involves more than just magic and mysticism; it requires the creation of a built environment to host these stories, folktales, legends, and fables. While CGI and special effects help to make this look as realistic as the newest technology allows, the architectural creations of these worlds are no less impressive, and no less crucial in creating a world of wonder.

Angie's List, the online business directory, has created a tribute to some of fantasy's most popular offerings with pen-and-paper illustrations depicting the different architecture styles of 6 imaginary universes. From the crooked charms of Diagon Alley to Studio Ghibli's floating castles, take a look at some of the most iconic locations without a real-world address.

Game of Thrones:

Harry Potter:

Marvel Cinematic Universe:

Studio Ghibli:

Star Wars:

Skyrim:

Marijuana Real Estate: This isn't just another greenhouse

2017-05-21T23:57:00-04:00

Innovative Industrial Properties, Kalyx and other similar groups are following the same strategy: buy buildings, retrofit them and lease them to commercial or medical marijuana growers. But it can often cost millions to turn a vacant warehouse into a facility suitable for cannabis cultivation.

David Gelles reports that the spread of legalization means the weed business is booming and with it, demand for commercial, industrial space. The latest post-industrial trend in states like California, Colorado, Massachusetts or even New York is a retrofitted industrial-scale "cultivation center."

photo by Ryan Mungia

Related readings include; a 2005 look at how Pot Clinics (were) Grow(ing) Like Weed in SF and last year's photo essay of L.A.'s "Green Mile." Or back in February, the Marketplace Morning Report on how these new REITs could help grow the medical-marijuana business.

photo by Ryan Mungia

Finally, last year over at the Weed thread, gruen noted "Big gold rush here to convert disused industrial facilities to indoor grow in advance of legislation."

Between a 16th century church and a wooden barn: the Chimney House by dekleva gregorič architects

2017-05-12T16:03:00-04:00

Nestled between a 16th century church and a wooden barn, the Slovenia-based firm dekleva gregorič architects have designed the Chimney House to both follow the rules of local architecture while marking a typological transformation based on the users' specificity. The architects have used vernacular materials—oiled larch board cladding the outside and oiled oak for the the interior—while innovating on the shape of the home, playing off the prevailing gabled roof typology common to the region. The distinguishing shape further references the neighboring church.

The house draws its name—the Chimney House—partially from the architects choice to use the form of this traditional fixture. The exterior incorporates this typology into the shape of the house. The element rises up between the two gables bringing in light from above and creating a continuous skylight , or perhaps a "chimney of light," into the house. This design solution also allows the architects to opt for fewer windows and ope...

A brief history of twisted apartment buildings

2015-08-13T13:41:00-04:00

This 21st century trend started with Sweden's 2005 Turning Torso building, then quickly was adapted and modified by Frank Gehry for what became 2011's 8 Spruce Street in Manhattan. Now the twisted apartment building seems to have become its own typology, to judge by recent proposed works by both Urban Agency and Sou Fujimoto:

↑ Urban Agency's code-savvy twisting apartment building.

↑ Sou Fujimoto's Abre Blanc apartment building.

Urban Agency's apartment building twists not just for an aesthetic thrill, but as a way to legally increase the total floor space by 40 percent by artfully shimmying through France's planning laws. Sou Fujimoto's unfurling, frond-like patios on Abre Blanc are thoughtfully designed purposefully to suit the structure's surrounding Mediterranean climate by embracing an outdoor lifestyle. MAD's "Marilyn Monroe" 2010-2012 Absolute World towers in Mississauga, ON took a more curvaceous and populist approach, as the final design was voted on by the Canadian public aft...