AllAccessoriesAnnouncementsAppliancesArchitectureArtBathBooksBudgetCommentaryCompetitionsCulinaryDesignersDiningEventsFloor - WallFurnitureGraphicsGreenInteriorsKidsKitchenLandscapeLightingMaterialsMiscMusicNewsOfficeOutdoorPersonalPetsRetailUrban
Centre Pompidou in MetzA satellite of Paris' Centre Pompidou opens in Metz, designed by Shigeru Ban! YUMM!
New Rules of RemodelingThinking about a remodel in your home? Well, you might want to read this first...
'The Reality We Live in Is Our Own Construction'"Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, best known for building waterfalls in New York and a giant sun in London, opens his first major show in Berlin this week. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, Eliasson talks about how the artist can bring about social evolution and why a room full of colored smoke can change your life." Or full of volcanic ash...
Happy 50th Birthday, Brasilia!"Brasilia was a city built at high speed in the late 1950s, fulfilling a long held Brazilian dream to have a new capital in the heart of the country." Great pics of a tremendous project.
Lawn Mower Exchange in SoCal"The Air Quality Management District is hoping users of traditional gas-powered lawn mowers will help them "mow down air pollution" when, for the eighth year, the air pollution control agency hosts a series of lawn-mower exchanges throughout Southern California." If only I had a lawn to mow...
"The international war over exit signs"The (US) big, red "EXIT" sign vs. the nicely designed little green man running for the door (rest of the world). In case you were wondering, yes, we really are an island...
Why Nicolai Ouroussoff Is Not Good EnoughAlexandra Lange takes the architecture critic to task. "Ouroussoff’s lack of artistic ambition leads to lazy writing, words and characterizations, unexplained assumptions and manufactured opponents that appear and reappear." Ouch... hurts when the nail is hit on the head, doesn't it?
Couple sued for installing IKEA kitchenApparently IKEA isn't good enough for the Gramercy Park Hotel. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan claims that the kitchen is "ugly" and unsuitable for such a luxurious home.
James Corner and Santa Monica are made for each otherI agree... let's see how much rope the City will give to Corner to redesign the public spaces of its civic center.
New American Embassy in London"The architecture of American embassies has been stuck lately in a predictable tug-of-war between a desire to express openness and an obsession, in an age of terrorism, with security. The design for the new U.S. Embassy in London, released Tuesday morning by the State Department, finds a novel way to move past that split and take diplomatic architecture into fresh territory." It's about time!
A container full of Boy ScoutsThe Boy Scouts commission sustainable accommodations for a Catalina campground. “The Boy Scouts have been looking to modernize their image,” says Richard Hammond (Gensler). With a bit of coaxing, they were willing to embrace the idea of container dwellings that acted more like open tents than completely enclosed cabins." Big kudos!
UnhabitatI really can't contain my dislike what the site has become anymore, so here, I've posted it publicly. Of course, Inhabitat probably makes money... and L+L, uh... don't make dinky do. But I think I'm OK with that.
Bird's Nest on thin iceSpeaking of the Olympics, what about Beijing's architectural wonders built for the Games? Well, you can ski on a 300 foot slope next to the Herzog & de Meuron designed icon for $26 (gotta pay for the $15 mil annual upkeep somehow). And the Water Cube aquatics center is being transformed into a water park (no p in the ool, please).
Expedition to the Geoglyphs of NowhereThis is cool--BLDGBLOG and Atlas Obscura have teamed up to lead an outing to California City in the Mojave Desert 3/20/10 to explore the dusty grids of its amazing abandoned suburbs that never were. This town with a population of just over 8,000 people is the 3rd largest city in California by area (!!!) and was once envisioned as a metropolis to rival Los Angeles. The satellite views are unbelievable.
The greenest Olympics ever?Taking a look at the "green" efforts of the Vancouver Olympics... looks like they've faired better than past Games even with all of the trucks used to haul in snow.
Richard Landry's Mammoth HouseLandry Design Group has been named one of Architectural Digest magazine's 100 top architects and designers in the world multiple times. I wanted to like his house in Mammoth Lakes, California more... but... [slideshow]
Vectorial VancouverOh yeah, hey, the Winter Olympics start tomorrow... here's a little Vancouver style celebratory art for you.
Shroomin' on TargetArchitect and SCI-Arc professor Roger Sherman ate a bunch of shrooms (and donuts) and then wondered what would happen if Target were to break out of the big-box. He calls it "a way for big box retailers to strategically locate themselves in urban infill areas," I call it something else, but it is pretty interesting.
FAILA slideshow of "ambitious architectural failures" which includes iconic buildings from Fallingwater to Pruitt-Igoe.
Lorcan O'Herlihy puts lipstick on a pig...actually, he wraps an old stucco house in polyester... same diff. [slideshow]
The Human Body as Factory"The eye is a camera, the nose is a turbine, the internal organs are a series of cogs, levers and interconnected pipes -- Fritz Kahn's unusual take on biology became hugely popular in the 1920s. Now a Berlin museum has dusted off the long-overlooked illustrations and is paying tribute to his industrial vision of biology."
London’s Olympic Stadium to Be Made Out of Recycled Guns and Knives!"As the world eagerly awaits the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, London is ramping up their own construction plans for the 2012 Olympics. And we just learned this exciting little tidbit about the super sustainable Olympic Stadium currently being built there that makes us even more anxious to see it – it’s going to be made out of recycled guns and knives!" Just imagine what NRA involvement could construct... - Thanks, Danielle.
Flawed Building Likely a Big ElementNo doubt we have been watching the horrific images of the earthquakes of Haiti and stared in disbelief at how the vast majority of the buildings just crumbled. "Engineers and architects who have worked in or visited Haiti say that substandard design, inadequate materials and shoddy construction practices likely contributed to the collapse of many buildings in the earthquake that struck Tuesday." writes Harry Fountain.
Economy Is Down, but Dubai Tower Tops All"For all the towers that give shape to Dubai’s skyline, the city-state still hails the addition of each new one as a reaffirmation of its reach-for-the-skies spirit..." Vegas, baby!
Farm Detroit"Acres of vacant land are eyed for urban agriculture under an ambitious plan that aims to turn the struggling Rust Belt city into a green mecca."