Crazy Buildings

1. Sutyagiin House-Arkhangelsk, Russia (tallest wooden house)

2. Cubic Houses-Rotterdam, Netherlands

3. Church-Reykjavik, Iceland

4. Wonderworks-Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA

Stairs

1. From Longchamp store in New York. This ungulating stair is built from 1 and a quarter hot rolled steel that in all weighs 55 tons. It took six months to build

2. From Lello Bookshop in Portugal.

Garbage City

Where: Cairo, Egypt
An honest city of garbage. The city is populated by Zabbaleen, who are people that collect, sort, reuse, and resell this great about of waste. It is so sad and so gross. How did it become so that it is now called a CITY of garbage. Scary. But it is also semi-intriguing at the same time. It is just so amazing.

Olympics in Vancouver

Richmond Olympic Oval

Has wood waved roof. The wood used was affected by Mountain Pine Beetles, so they are using wood that could not otherwise be used. Used for speed skating.

World's Largest Solar Energy Office

Where: Dezhou in Shangdong Province, China

The office building that took shape from a sun dial is 75,000 square meters. It houses multiple exhibition centers, scientific research facilities, meeting and training facilities, and a hotel, which are all run by solar power from the many panels tha cover the roof of the office. One fun fact is that the external structure of the building used 1% of steel used for making the Bird's Nest for the lats olympic games.

Built To Wear

By: Ball-Nogues Studio
Where: Shenzen Hong Kong Biennale 2009
This instillation is made of 10,000 American Apparel pieces. American Apparel is the largest garment factory operator in the US. Throughout the course of Biennale the instillation is going to be dismantled and given piece by piece to visitors. It is meant to evoke thought about oversea manufacturing of American brands. I am glad that they want to bring this issue into light. Although, I am wondering who exactly is really sewing together the clothes even in America, and are they working in sweat shops, or in good conditions. They can boast that they don't ship their work overseas, but that might be because they are working so cheaply here by using poor facilities. Also, it is to remind us of sustainability and how buildings are impermanent.

Plup

By: PLUP Oy Ab Ltd.
Where: Finland
These are new water bottles that are made from PET, Which is a highly recyclable plastic. Right now, hardly any of the plastic of the plastic bottles can be recycled. The bottles will be sold in a regular grocery store with water from the Anttila well in Lestijärvi, Finland, so they will be treated and maybe replace the water bottles now. The bottle will hold 400 ml or 14 fl. oz. The company is dedicated to preserving our wildlife, therefore, 10 euro cents of each water bottle purchased will go towards the Baltic Sea Action Group, that keeps the Baltic Sea clean. The company encourages customers to reuse and refill these bottles. Also they are made of a more durable plastic, so it is a multi purpose container. Eventually, they plan to fill it with different drinks and have different colored bottles. I like the shape, it is more fun, but i wonder how it is to drink from?

Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair

By: Guise (Swedish)

Where: Stockholm

This is a fashion store in Stockholm, Sweden that uses the contrast of white walls with black graphic elements. The shelving is seemingly falling and unfolding from the ceiling, while garments are displayed on grids of thin black metal rods. Although completely white walls are a little played now, I do like this contrast. Usually there would be a color, a bright color, instead of black, but I really like the non-color contrast. Guise was awarded design firm of the year at the Great Indoor Awards last month. They must be doing something good.

Project Bottleshop

By: Aaron Scales
Where: Lexington, Kentucky

Aaron is from the UK College of Design. He created this bus stop for Art in Motion, which is a nonprofit volunteer organization. He used recycled glass Ale-8-One bottles that are illuminated by LED lights. How do these lights work with no electricity? Well the roof is actually solar panels that provide energy for the lights. So inventive. I love the color and the pattern it creates on the ground.

Rainforest

By: Patrick Nadeau

For: Boffi

Boffi is an Italian design company who this installation was made for. The installation is a compilation of hangin domes covered in living plants. I am guessing he is creating what is an abstract view of the rainforest canopy. Its pretty and whimsical.

Shadow Surface

By: Atelier Mob

This caught my eye, because presently I am working on a project that relates to a filtration and were also using punctured shapes into a conrete surface. Atelier Mob is a portugese firm, so this pavillion is in Sacavem, Lisbon. The structure is a cafeteria space and shelter with circular holes cut into the concrete roof. Depending on where the sun is during the day, creates a different shadow pattern. I also did a similar thing with a walkway and letters creating that make up L A C E. It was also focusing on the shadows that the letters cast in different times during the day.

Condesa DF Hotel

By: Javier Sanchez (architect) and India Mahdavi (interior designer)
Where: Mexico City, Mexico
The hotel was converted from a Neo-classical building to this contemporary version. The inner courtyard is the most important, because it is where people are seen. As you can see in the picture the inner courtyard is also known by the many shutters that guests can use for privacy or publicity. I love the repetitiveness of the shutters and what they express. A barrier but also a filter.

Airport Sleep Pods

By: Arch Group
Dimensions: 2M x 1.4M x 2.3M
For those awkward moments when you just need to sleep, but your in a public space. The pod has ventilation, sound alerts, a built in LCD TV, wireless internet, power sockets, and a luggage space. The beds are 2 x .6M and have an automated system to change linens. They are made out of soft flexible strip of polymer tissue. The pay system would also be flexible, depending on how long one spends in the pod. What a great idea! I would love to use those. My only concern is keeping them clean. Some people are germ bugs and dont like being in the same space as previous people even if the bed linens are cleaned, but I guess if your desperate enough.

Comcast Center

Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Directly above Suburban Station

This

space

has been given the award for the tallest LEED certified building in the United States. Why this needs an award, I do not know. It earned a Gold Certification for LEED-CS (core and shell). The Comcast building uses high performance glass and sun screening. It also uses louvers in the atrium to optimize daylight. High performance windows block 60% of the sun's heat and lets in 70% of the suns daylight. Also, the building uses 40% less water than normal office buildings. Lastly, it uses a shaded plaza to minimize the urban heat island effect by 70%. The urban heat island is caused by the many buildings and roads that are built in cities, but cover up tons of fresh vegetation needed to keep the earth healthy, so this causes a bubble of higher temperatures around cities. This building is very glossy and high tech looking, hopefully it does what it got its award for. This building is also good because it brings newness to Philadelphia, which definitely needs it.

Buildings Made From Trees

By: Whole Tree Architecture

Supporting houses out of whole trees was first the philosophy of Roald Gunderson. He made this theory sixteen years ago, which
was pretty revolutionary for the time.

According to Forest Products Lab a whole unmilled tree can support 50% more than the largest piece of timber from the same tree. Whole Tree Architecture only build with weed trees, which I am assuming to mean that these are the trees that will never produce good timber. Going off of the Gunderson theory, they only use tree 10 inches or less in diamter and are usually taken from the clients site. They also use large trees that are downed by disease and/or wind. I love the artistry of the trees they use and I always love being green. It would be difficult to use these trees in any commercial product though for fear of being too literal about nature. Also, I wonder if they swell and contract like normal wood or if they treat it in some way that allows it to stay in a constant state.

Carbon 451 Lamp

By: Marcus Tremonto (American)
Galler owner, Patrick Billet, asked Marcus to design a light out of carbon fiber. Macus used carbons qualities of strenth and lightness. I really like this piece because of the way the light was placed to run throughout the piece. Its not just a carbon fiber with a light in or around it. The carbon fiber and light are seemingly one in the same ribbon.

Use Canopy Upcycled

By: BIOS Design Collective

Where: Stable Cafe

For: Architecture and the City

The creators of this canopy went off of the moto "the problem is the solution." Thier problem was the wasted cups from the OustideLands concert in San Fransisco, California. The solution they cam up with was recycled canopy. They created a grid of string lines taught enough to allow the cups to simply sit in between the strings. I liked how they used the red and clear cups for a difference in light. Clear allows more light in.

Mapungubwe Interpretation Center

By: Peter Rich Architects

Where: South Africa

I honestly could not truly find the use of the this structure. I think it is an abstract museum of how the indiginous people of this area lived. It is a poverty relief project using ecological methods and materials. The complex landscape of South Africa was the inspiration for the structure and provided most of the materials. All the masonry used to make this structure like in the domes are all local rubble stone. This is built on a Mesa and on the next Mesa there is a Ceremonial Center, with a similar idea as this. The domes you see in this picture are shading a zig zagging path underneath them. The level change when walking through the center resembles the movement of the ancestors, up and down the hills of South Africa.

Opera Mobile Holiday Home

Merus Winery

By: UXUS Design

Where: Napa Valley, California

I really like the lighting and colors that this "cave" provides. I also like the contract between the very modern, whimsical lighting the the very natural reminiscent of history cave like setting.

Suited Case

By: Erik De Nijs

I am not sure if this is completely useful, but the concept is cute.

Amphibian Pavilion

By: Peddle Thorpe Architects
Designed By: Antoine Damery
This amazing exhibition space was created for the 2012 World Expo in Yeosu, Korea. It is a floating exhibition space that allows for an unkown future. It is adaptive and reactive to its oceanic environment. It was inspired by the fluidity of oceanic organisms. You can see their work process in the upper left photograph. It is very very neat to see what a great firms concept process is. it looks like they were working with three different shape ideas and found the one that worked best with their program and then reworked it from there. They call this living architecture, which I am not sure is totally true. I think they just want to call it living cause the sea makes it move, but i think its big enough that nobody would really feel it. The massive space inside allows this structure to be used after the world expo is over.

Umarmung Floor Seating Sofa

By: Christoph Vogle

This looks so nice and comfortable. It is Umarmung because that means hug in German. It inspired by Sedia, which means proper sitting, and floor sitting culture in Japan. The chair is basically a backrest to support you when sitting on the floor. I really appreciate the graceful lines and curves of this seat.

Phildelphia Townhouse

By: Moto DesignShop

Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Pine Street

I probably wouldnt even have noticed this had it not been in Philly. Thought I would represent! And now I should say go Phils! Anyways, this home is based around a two-tier lift that lowers the parking space into a basement, Which shifts the second story garden to the ground floor. This allows the exterior space to always be at the center. The house, Which is made mostly of glass, is three bays deep, but is never more than two bays from the exterior, sunlight, and air. It uses an open straight stair and glass walls inside and out to blur the difference between the two. This townhouse really interested me because we had to do in Philadelphia for a Townhouse project sophomore year. What fun.

Float House

By: Morphosis
This new innovative housing design

is for the Make it Right Foundation
in New Orleans that Brad Pitt
formed. :) He is so nice. haha.

Morphosis created this with the help with graduates from the

University of California in Los Angeles. New technology allows this house to float when floods occur. The teams built on a prefab chassis using polystyrene foam coated in glass fibre reinforced concrete. Their plan is create 150 affordable, sustainable, storm-resistant houses. 150 doesnt really seem like alot, so I hope that the plan increses the amount of houses they are building. And hopefully affordable really does mean affordable and doesnt mean affordable for rich people. Clark construction, who are apparently very well know, are making these houses.

Field Chapel

By: Students at the Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture and Ecker Architekten
Where: Boedigheim, Germany

This structure happens to be an open air chapel. A genius idea. Making a worshipping place open air would increase the worship experience ten fold I am sure. It would be easier to clear your thoughts and think about what Christ wants. It is made of recycled and renewable materials that were locally sourced and sustainably harvested.

By: YH2-Yiacouvakis Hamelin Architects

Where: Canadian Laurentians Forest

The beautifully perspective house is divided into three blocks that are linked by glass passageways. All of the blocks are in direct contact with the earth in some way. One block is the Entry Block for the kids rooms and family room. The second is the Daytime Block, which allows most of the light into the house with very large windows. The last is the Private Block. Bent Corten steel connects all of the blocks together and defines a series of outdoor settings like you can see in both of the pictures. The designer described this residence as "A forgotten shipwreck at the heart of the forest" It does remind me somewhat of a shipwreck in the forest. It is in the similar shape of a ship and the way the area around the house is cleared make me think that when it crashed there it smushed everything around it. I love this photograph of the outside of the house. It an awesome perspective.

Wall to Wall

By: Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer (Creator)

Designer: Established and Sons

Believe it or not this is actual wood flooring. It is oiled oak herringbone paronet brick flooring. Instead of using long strips of wood like usual wood flooring, they use pieces about a foot long in a herringbone pattern to create this look. This particular room has a 15 color palette. The special flooring with be in London until November 24, 2009 as part of a frieze art fair. In design, my professors have always taught me that people dont look at the floor, but what if you MAKE them look. The multicolored flooring would also help keep the dust and stains to a minimum, which is another concern in design with flooring, espeically in commercial flooring materials. This is a fun, colorful, and durable solution.

Ming Vase

By: Noam Bar Yochai

This vase came from a designer from Israel. It is a glazed earthenware piece like any other vase, but with small holes that allow technological light to shine through. So it is a mixture of old chinese craft and technology. I have never seen anything like this before and the process that it takes to make it seems grueling, making all the molds and stuff, yuck. But the finished product is pretty awesome.

Water Purification Island

By: Jakob Szczesny

Where: Warsaw

This contraption was created for the Synchronicity Architectural and Arts Festival in Warsaw. It its a water purification island that visitors help purify. The floating island allows visitors to purify the water through exercise. What an awesome way to help your body and environment at the same time. I hope this becomes a permanent structure there. I think it would be fun to go down and do some exercising outside while still helping the eco-system. Amazing. This is the kind of stuff we need to get people off their butts and helping the earth.