Simon Henley's new book, The Architecture of Parking (Thames & Hudson), casts an objective eye over car parks, one of the most important but most neglected building types of the modern era, and finds a strange and haunting beauty. — guardian
'Using formal expression to overcome any shortfall in the quality of construction' ... The Tricorn Centre, Portsmouth, (above) designed by The Owen Luder Partnership. View full entry
Steven Holl's Sifang Art Museum will be opening in Nanjing, China, in November of this year. In the mean time they have launched a pretty site with some nice alternating photographs of the building. Check it out. View full entry
Mecanoo architecten has won the architectural selection for the new Noorderpoort regional community college in Stadskanaal, the Netherlands. The 8,500 m² college is like a mansion with beautiful wetlands as a front lawn situated within the town's green heart. — bustler.net
There’s nothing sillier than an M.F.A. What does it mean? Did you learn anything? No. To be a master you have to learn languages and you have to have these things. Nobody gets them. I don’t think the art form is so complicated that you need a college course in order to read it. — Paris Review
Paris Review's Thessaly La Force visits and talks to one of art world's giants Lawrence Weiner in his LOT-EK designed and installed live-work studio in New York. They talk about the neighborhood, art, and why he doesn't eat lunch but loves the cocktail parties. View full entry
As mentioned in previous posts I have been studying in Copenhagen with the Danish Institute of Study Abroad. In the last week we were treated to study tours to either Norway and Sweden or Finland and Sweden. My group traveled to Norway and Sweden. — University of Illinois Chicago (Matthew)
Winners have been announced in the [LONDON] Information Pavilion. The international ideas competition, hosted by [AC-CA], invited architects and architecture students to design a temporary, freestanding information pavilion within the world famous Trafalgar Square in the Heart of London during the 2012 Olympic Games. — bustler.net
The language was impossible to understand, but the building itself communicated in a clear vernacular: thick columns, coarsely hewn and partly painted white, were topped with gold-haloed icons and lovely scarves that must have been embroidered by hand. The ceiling in the back was only an arm’s breadth above my head... — The New York Times
Evan Rail travels to the Carpathian foothills near Zakarpattia, the western region of Ukraine. The vernacular folk architecture includes a number of unusual wooden churches dating from the 15th to 18th centuries. After years of neglect, the buildings are in danger of disappearing and... View full entry
Meanwhile eric chavkin suggested that "This skate board house has more to do with physio-culture like some experimental soviet projects ie the slanted floors of 'the house of dreams', an architectural experiment to study effects on dreaming. I like the anti-gravity aspects and it reminds me of the space station interior in Kubrick 2001 Space Odyssey it expresses the anti-gravity ideal of early modernism.
In a feature entitled Architecture and Design Graduates – How to Secure Your First Position, James Long/Ellicott Long provides "some useful guidance on how to maximise your chances of success in securing that initial role and draws on examples" that he has experienced both in the UK... View full entry
Six years ago, the Rural Studio, a program based in western Alabama and run by Auburn University's architecture school, launched the $20K House Project, with the goal of producing a model home for $20,000. — Wall Street Journal
"The Dodge House in West Hollywood was considered one of the most architecturally significant American houses of the 20th century. Designed in 1914 and completed in 1916, the masterwork by architect Irving Gill made a profound break from the traditional pitched-roof, symmetrical house design ... — By Jeffrey Head, Special to the Los Angeles Times
... Gill had the radical notion to elevate reinforced concrete to the "architectural importance of stone," but perhaps more important than the house's form — a horizontal box lacking roof overhangs, surface details or other ornaments — was a revolutionary vision of what a modern... View full entry
Post Post is a new online project focused on exploring the dialog of relational contexts within architectural projects and practices. By extending the lens beyond the individual scope of projects, Post Post seeks to illuminate the interwoven and complex relationships of congruous... View full entry
Many of the central changes in our society since World War II would not have been possible were air conditioning not keeping our homes and workplaces cool. Florida, Southern California, Texas, Arizona, Georgia, and New Mexico all experienced above-average growth during the latter half of the 20th century -- hard to imagine without air conditioning — the Atlantic
Over Rebecca Rosen explores how one technology, air conditioning, made modern America what it is. From cooling our rooms, to shaping what our houses look like, and where we build them, "the advent of air conditioning has shaped our homes and family life as well". View full entry
The new Museum of Liverpool, designed by Copenhagen-based 3XN, will open its doors to the public next week Tuesday, July 19. The dynamic low-rise structure is the largest National Museum to be built in the UK in over 100 years and is situated on a UNESCO World Heritage Site next to Liverpool’s famous ’Three Graces’. — bustler.net
An incredible crop of solar-powered "Supertrees" is rising at Singapore's Gardens By The Bay, a 101-acre garden site that will support 226,000 plants and flowers from all over the world. Designed by Grant Associates, the gardens' 18 Supertrees will serve as towering vertical gardens that collect rainwater, generate solar power and act as venting ducts for the conservatories. — Inhabitat
The structures around Naoshima are super-hi-tech, 23rd-century constructions of grey reinforced concrete, with every next-generation innovation; but they take you back to the principles of spareness, simplicity and concentration that graced the haiku, brush-and-ink paintings and Noh dramas of old. — Guardian
The "art island" of Naoshima is dotted with calming concrete installations a world away from Tokyo's frenetic pace. Pico Iyer stayed at the hotel Benesse House designed by Tadao Ando and enjoyed moments of tranquility and museum peace. View full entry