When built in 1989 by Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei, the glass pyramid was derided as a sacrilegious addition to the historic Louvre Museum. But three decades later, the once-reviled Louvre Pyramid has become a beloved Paris landmark and highly-visited tourist attraction. This weekend, the... View full entry
'Mirror Mirror', a public installation designed by SOFTlab, opened over the weekend alongside Alexandria, Virginia's revamped Waterfront Park. The 8-foot-tall, interactive piece is the inaugural project for the city's public art series which is a key part of efforts to enrich the experience of the... View full entry
The spiritual architecture of Swiss architect Mario Botta is the subject of an exhibition at the Ringturm Exhibition Centre in Vienna. Building studies, drawings, and photography are brought side by side to reach an understanding of how Botta conceptualizes and designs religious experiences through the built environment. — Wallpaper
Religious places of worship often prompt a sense of reverence and deep reflection. For some these sacred buildings provide peace, and for others perhaps a bit of anxiety. Nonetheless, Swiss architect Mario Botta has designed and completed 22 religious buildings during his 50-year career as an... View full entry
A project that took a little over six years to design and construct opened its doors this week along Huangpu River in Shanghai's West Bund. The brainchild of famed Chinese collector and businessman Qiao Zhbing, Tank Shanghai consists of five preserved oil tanks which are connected by OPEN... View full entry
“Paris changes! But nothing in my melancholy
Has changed. New palaces, scaffolding, blocks of stone,
Old neighbourhoods, all turn to allegory
And memories weigh more than stone.” - from The Swan by Charles Baudelaire
— Kunstkritikk / Nordic Art Review
A tragicomic cultural and architectural critique of consumer modernities by Will Bradley. "Every architect in Europe (and beyond) is hustling for a piece of the future Oslo. Their visions are wildly, overtly, perhaps clinically at odds with reality." A must read, h/t Ron Linden via Peter... View full entry
For decades, Open Concept, and the togetherness-loving, friend-filled lifestyle it was supposed to bring, has been a home buyers’ religion, the one true way to live. Go to Houzz, the home remodeling site, type in “open concept,” and up come 221,569 photos. Over on HGTV, DeRon Jenkins, costar of the popular “Flip or Flop Nashville,” will tell you, as he recently told the Globe, that an open floor plan “allows the love to flow.” But now, experts say, people are starting to openly yearn for walls. — Boston Globe
Uninterrupted space. This is what real estate agents, interior designers, and almost every host on HGTV have promoted for the past decade. However, design experts are saying that people are beginning to miss walls. Homeowners realize they don't want to live in this "fantasy of uninterrupted... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding student projects on various Archinect People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
Keaton’s comedy derives largely from the positioning —and constant, unexpected repositioning— of his body in space, and in architectural space particularly. Unlike other slapstick performers who relished in the close-up and detailed attention to the protagonist, Keaton frequently directed the camera to film with a wide far-shot that could contain the whole of a building’s facade or urban span within the frame. — Lapsus Lima
While few movies can be truly considered architectural, and even fewer can meaningfully activate the filmic environment through its protagonists, the silent movie era saw no better patron of the spatial arts than Buster Keaton, the creative force Roger Ebert once described as "the greatest... View full entry
It’s a radical way of thinking about advertising, especially for a company that has a “no label” ethos and hasn’t run traditional ad campaigns since the company launched in 1980. Instead of slapping its name on its products or shoving ads in people’s faces, Muji wants to invite customers to the Muji Hotel to experience the “anti-brand” lifestyle it’s selling. — Fast Company
It is hard not to fall in love with MUJI, the famed household and consumer goods company from Japan uses their "no label" branding tactic to win consumers over throughout the years. With the news of MUJI opening their first hotel in the company's hometown of Ginza, people can now stay in a... View full entry
This post is brought to you by the Interior Architecture Department at Woodbury University School of Architecture Returning to Los Angeles, the Unmentionables Symposium holds its second symposium event on April 6th. Organized by the Interior Architecture Department at Woodbury School of... View full entry
Following over a decade of planning, the National Museum of Qatar finally opened its doors to the public today. Designed by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, the 560,000 square-foot museum was built with a complex structure of interlocking curved discs and cantilevered angles, which was inspired by the... View full entry
10 copies of the newest issue of cult favorite magazine Real Review have recently arrived at Archinect Outpost. With a focus that straddles the line between design and politics and a memorable tagline ('What it means to live today'), Real Review has quickly developed a following. Spread of Real... View full entry
"(The hotel) is one of the rare standing testimonies of the brutalist movement in North Africa. [...] Hôtel du Lac was built as an expression of Tunisia's modernity and independence. In contrast to the surrounding architecture, the hotel makes a rebellious statement of departure from both traditional and colonial architectural forms." — CNN
This local landmark of Tunis has made quite an impact on the public since its initial opening in 1973. Said to be the inspiration behind a fictional Sandcrawler vehicle in George Lucas' Star Wars films, the Hôtel du Lac also acts as "one of Tunisia's premier brutalist structures" in North... View full entry
Can the relationship between architecture and politics ever be summarized by a well-organized diagram? San Francisco based writer Julia Galef recently offered a proposal on Twitter for distinguishing the four main political groups by their architectural preferences in a familiar format in the... View full entry
For years, the Robie House limped along, a shadow of its former self, a sad state of affairs that resulted from neglectful owners or well-meaning stewards who lacked the funds to put the landmark back in order.
Now, though, that $11 million-plus project is finally complete — the house will reopen to visitors Friday — and it reminds us anew why the Robie House is one of Chicago’s, and the world’s, architectural treasures.
— Chicago Tribune
While a visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's 1910 Robie House on the University of Chicago campus used to accompany a feeling of sorrow and a bit of regret, it can now be the pinnacle of any trip to the Windy City. Interior of the Robie House, by Frank Lloyd WrightAn exhaustive restoration of the... View full entry
