Gateway Towers 1 is designed to please even the most exacting and fussy Corinthians. That's why every home here is fully automated, giving you the most advanced technology of the century and making your life smooth and easy. Even the amenities have been handpicked with special attention, right from the designer fixtures to the Swarovski lobbies to the private theatre within the towers. — gatewaytowerspune.com
Laurinda Spear and Marisa Fort have launched the new ArquitectonicaSHOP website in a move to expand their new design venture, ArquitectonciaSHOP, to include other fashion accessories and furniture. Striving for total integration between architecture and product, Arquitectonica’s collection... View full entry
There is a growing movement afoot in design. It has assumed many names over the years, all of which emphasize the public good and the engagement of too-often marginalized voices. Of late, we've seen life-saving products, more dignifying environments, and more efficient systems, all designed for the betterment of all. — PublicInterestDesign.org
The University of Minnesota College of Design, Tandus Flooring, and PublicInterestDesign.org introduced Public Interest Design 100. The list is, a comprehensive look at 100 individuals and teams working at the intersection of design and service. While there are many designers... View full entry
Some of you may have noticed recently that we quietly released an update to the Archinect iPhone app. The new app has resolved a couple bugs* causing the app to crash for some users, introduces some subtle navigation improvements, and is optimized for the new larger screen on the iPhone... View full entry
The €150m satellite of Paris's Louvre museum shimmers like an apparition on the raised plane of the former coalmine, looking down over streets of pitch-roofed miners' houses, dotted with the occasional chip shop. The building is formed from a series of long, low-slung walls that fade in and out of view as the changing light dances over its surface – or as clouds of drizzle engulf it entirely in the wintry gloom. — guardian.co.uk
Produced as a diploma project in 1928, it justified itself by pointing out – as generations of environmentalists would later insist – the need to minimise human impact on the planet. Except rather than treading lightly on it, we wouldn't be treading on it at all, but living in flying mobile homes, which could dock at collective housing, hotels, factories and leisure centres, able to descend to the earth to enjoy it unspoilt. — guardian.co.uk
The mayor's office in Yvrac said Wednesday that workers who were hired to renovate the grand 13,000-square-meter (140,000-square-foot) manor and raze a small building on the same estate in southwest France mixed them up.
"The Chateau de Bellevue was Yvrac's pride and joy," said former owner Juliette Marmie. "The whole village is in shock. How can this construction firm make such a mistake?"
— npr.org
Via rfuller in the Forum: Chateau de Bellevue destroyed by idiots. View full entry
You lack a cozy balcony? No worries, Julien Berthier has the perfect solution for you: the ‘Balcon additionnel’. The small balcony will be lifted up to the building from a boom-truck on the ground. It fits every building, is permanently attached to the truck, allowing it to be quickly fitted and removed. An easy service for installing a plastic Haussmannian-style balcony on all kinds of buildings. The balcon additionnel is made from plastic resin, steel and paint. — ignant.de
LAVA is creating the new interior spaces for an old cabaret theatre dating from the 1920s. The abandoned cabaret theatre has been recently uncovered in the heart of Berlin. Built in 1905, the three level musical hall and restaurant has been buried in 30 tonnes of rubble since 1934 when it closed... View full entry
The building is alluring but unsettling. Is the museum’s 10-story concrete cube splitting apart or being pieced together? Is it being held intact by an enormous brace — a transparent protrusion on the cube’s side containing a 54-foot-long escalator — or is that a destabilizing gash that pierces the building’s body? — NYT
Edward Rothstein visited the Perot Museum of Nature and Science and while his review focuses on the contents of the building, he also touches on it's architecture. Rothstein argues that the museum is an example of a not so recent trend wherein... View full entry
RE-IMAGINING THE CIVIC A profound breakdown in trust between publics and institutions is one of the defining hallmarks of our time. Cultural organizations can respond to this crisis by acting as mediating agencies and imaginatively bridging and building interfaces across divided constituencies... View full entry
Authorities have demolished a five-story home that stood incongruously in the middle of a new main road and had become the latest symbol of resistance by Chinese homeowners against officials accused of offering unfair compensation.
Xiayangzhang village chief Chen Xuecai told The Associated Press the house was bulldozed Saturday after its owners, duck farmer Luo Baogen and his wife, agreed to accept compensation of 260,000 yuan ($41,000).
— ajc.com
Previously: Chinese Highway builds around "Nail House" protesting development View full entry
The initial responses of some local architects to the arena drawings were underwhelming.
While cautioning that the renderings are preliminary, Seattle architect and critic Mark Hinshaw said some of the views of the proposed arena seem like "boxes with a tight lid" that could be any number of public buildings.
"One thing that seems missing is any kind of dramatic roof expression that we have seen with a number of landmark buildings — particularly ones that involve large audiences.
— seattletimes.com
It is an unusual soul, however, who proceeds to build 7 houses, 10 ponds, a hermit’s hut, a 17-foot-tall maple-wood Jesus and a yoga studio whose sculptured pink doorway resembles (with frank anatomical accuracy) the female genitalia.
The lord of this manor is a 60-year-old barefoot maverick named SunRay Kelley. And his fantastical hand-hewn compound lies at the end of a dirt road that bears his grandfather’s name, in the foothills of the Cascade Range, north of Seattle.
— nytimes.com
I like this quote: A recent Saturday morning found Mr. Kelley rambling in the garden while smoking an herbal palliative the size of a cigar. He self-medicates in this fashion at certain times of the day, like when he is awake and doesn’t have food in his mouth. View full entry
McLain Clutter, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Kyle Reynolds, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning, along with a team of students from the University of Michigan, have... View full entry