LEGO Architecture Studio
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The Cube Project
The Cube restaurant interior design by Igor Sirotov, Ukrainian designer. Continue reading »
The Iglu Hotel
Welcome to nature amidst a carefully designed environment made of glistening snow crystals – rebuilt every season from 3000 tons of snow at six locations in the Alps and the Pyrenees. A vivid product for exciting events and one of the most innovative hotel concepts of our times – CO2-neutral and sustainable. Continue reading »
Grand Canyon Skywalk
The Grand Canyon Skywalk is a transparent horseshoe-shaped cantilever bridge and tourist attraction in Arizona near the Colorado River on the edge of a side canyon in the Grand Canyon West area of the main canyon. USGS topographic maps show the elevation at the Skywalk’s location as 4,770 ft (1,450 m) and the elevation of the Colorado River in the base of the canyon as 1,160 ft (350 m), and they show that the height of the precisely vertical drop directly under the skywalk is between 500 ft (150 m) and 800 ft (240 m). Continue reading »
Head in the Clouds by Studio Klimonski Chang Architects
Head in the Clouds structure’s armature is made from 1.5″ aluminum tubes that use less material and are easier to transport than more traditional materials such as wood. All the materials are recyclable. Klimoski and Chang worked with schools and local organizations, including New York Road Runners and NYCRUNS, to collect the 53,780 milk jugs and water bottles needed to create Head in the Clouds. The jugs were used to create 120 “pillows” that give the cloud its bumpy, organic shape. The bottles, accentuated with organic food coloring and water, create the interior’s blue hue. Continue reading »
Toledo Metro Station by Oscar Tusquets Blanca
Opened in September 2012, the Toledo Metro Station was the 16th station built on Naples Metro Line 1. Set along one of Naples main shopping streets, Via Toledo, a second entrance to the station is expected to open into Naples Spanish Quarter, Quartieri Spagnoli, in February 2013.
Designed by the Spanish Firm Oscar Tusquets Blanca, at 50 meters deep, the station extends below the ground water and is the deepest metro station built on Line 1 to date. One of Metro Napoli’s Metro Art Stations, it was designed around the themes of water and light. Continue reading »
San-Zhi – The Abandoned Pod Village in Taiwan
San Zhi, Taiwan is an abandoned vacation resort on the northern coast of Taiwan. It was built in the early 1980s, but construction of the futuristic resort ceased after a series of fatal accidents.
Even though it never opened as a vacation resort, San Zhi can still be toured. The strange pod-like buildings act as a tourist attraction. The colors of the pod-like buildings depend on their location. The buildings in the west are green, in the east pink, in the south blue, and in the north white. Continue reading »
Wood Bridge In Netherlands
Commissioned by the Province of Friesland, Oak (Onix and Achterbosch Architecture) has developed a road bridge that connects 2 districts of Sneek on either side of the A7 motorway. The bridge was designed for a municipality that wished to establish a new city marker along the motorway. Framework The Department of Public Works, the user of the bridge, stated that it wished to use more wood in its constructions.
Maijishan Grottoes
The Maijishan Grottoes are a series of 194 caves cut in the side of the hill of Majishan in Tianshui, Gansu Province, northwest China. This example of rock cut architecture contains over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals. Construction began in the Later Qin era (384-417 CE). Continue reading »
Vocklabruck Platform in the Middle of a Lake
There’s a wonderfully picturesque spot in Vöcklabruck, Austria where visitors are able to sit in the middle of a pond without getting wet. The scenic landscape includes a path leading down to a hollowed out circular area where people can take a seat and relax amongst nature. It’s a surreal journey along the gradual ramp to the observational platform as the water level gains height either side. Once in the resting area, depending on perspective, visitors seem like they’re wading in the lake without a drop of water on them. Continue reading »
Emergency Slide May Save Your Life
An emergency slide is tried out in a building in Shanghai, China. The stainless steel chute has been attached to the banister of the stairs. The idea is that in an emergency the slide would be deployed and people would use it to exit the building quickly rather than using the stairs. According to inventor Zhou Miaorong people using the slide could escape from a five-storey building in 14 seconds. (Imaginechina / Rex Feature)
Shanghai Building Ridiculed for Resembling a Boot
The LAVENU Center in Shanghai has become the latest of a series of buildings in China to be ridiculed by internet users. The structure has been nicknamed Boot Tower because its L shape appears reminiscent of a boot. The tower was designed by Japanese architect Jun Aoki. (Imaginechina / Rex Features)
The Interior of the Fourviere Basilica in Lyon
The interior of the Fourviere Basilica in Lyon is seen after seven years of restoration. (PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images)
Roll It: Experimental House
Students from University of Karlsruhe, Germany, Christian Zwick and Konstantin Jerabek have designed this unique experimental revolving house called Roll It, based on the concept of “mobile and space-efficient construction”. The design offers flexible housing in a minimum space.
The cylindrical house features a very unique interior setting which changes its functions depending on the orientation. The workspace in one position becomes bedroom when rolled 180 degrees and the kitchen becomes bathroom. The center of the structure can be used both for sports activities as well as for lighting control. Continue reading »
Boat Roofed Shed in Wales
Boat Roofed shed is Owned by sheddie: Alex Holland. The roof is an upturned boat! It is located at an altitude of 750ft above sea level in the Cambrian Mountain range near Machynlleth in mid Wales. It is full of nautical nonsense befitting a boat turned upside down up a mountain! It has a 20w solar panel trickle feeding a leisure battery which powers 3 pairs of ultra-brite L.E.D. lights and a 12v sound system. There is a 12v/gas refrigerator and a bottled gas cooker with 2 burners, a grill, and an oven.
Also has a small ‘Belfast sink’ plumbed in. It is heated by a 19th century French enamel wood burning stove. The chimney is an old king pole from a circus big top that used to house elephants know as ‘The elephant shed’! The shed is made completely from recycled materials except for the 12v system. 3 sets of chimes from inside mantelpiece clocks have been screwed into the centre board of the boat and you can play them with a big nail. Continue reading »
The Safe House
The Safe House by KWK PROMES is located in a small village on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland. Surrounding the area, many of the buildings are “Polish cubes” from the 60s and old wooden barns. The house was designed so that the homeowners never feel unsafe or exposed. The result is something of a modern fortress with lots of movable parts and secret openings, complete with a working drawbridge. Continue reading »
Chinese Farmer Builds Apocalypse-Proof ‘Noah’s Ark’ Pods
Liu Qiyuan, a Chinese farmer from the village of Qiantun in northern Hebei Province, located just south of Beijing, has built what he describes as “Noah’s Ark” survival pods in case of a cataclysmic event. Photos by Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images. Continue reading »
CHIP House Powered by Solar Energy
CHIP is a prefab, net-zero solar-powered house designed and built by a student-run team from two Southern California schools: Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The house is the team’s entry for the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2011 competition. Continue reading »
Grave Interruption: Building Around a Tomb in China
Workers lay the foundation for a residential complex around a solitary tomb site in Taiyuan, China’s Shanxi province, Dec. 6. (AP) Continue reading »
Model of Hogwarts Castle
Production Designer Stuart Craig was on hand today at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter to reveal one of the best kept secrets of the tour: the incredibly detailed model of Hogwarts castle used in the films. Continue reading »
The Barcode Project
The sunset is reflected in the buildings of The Barcode Project in Oslo, Norway. The new high-rise buildings are part of a redevelopment on former dock and industrial land in the city. (Cornelius Poppe/Scanpix)
The City that Builts into the Rock
Setenil de las Bodegas is a small town in the province of Cádiz, Spain. Named after its once flourishing wineries – bodegas – Setenil de las Bodegas (which means Setenil of the Wine Cellars) is unique among the pueblos blancos, white villages, of Andalucia and particularly famous for its dwellings built into the rock overhangs. The town extends along the course of the Rio Trejo with some houses being built into the rock walls of the gorge itself, created by enlarging natural caves or overhangs and adding an external wall. Continue reading »
Inflatable Trampoline Bridge Proposal by Atelier Zündel Cristea
Paris based Atelier Zündel Cristea have introduced this proposal for an inflatable bridge complete with three giant trampolines for pedestrians to enjoy. There are plenty of bridges al over in Paris, across the River Seine that carry cars, trains, cyclists, and pedestrians from the Left Bank to the Right. This time, AZC s came up with an original idea that would involve pedestrians. The atelier designed the bridge as its entry for a competition organized by Archtriumph, a website whose sole purpose is to organize competitions. It would be constructed from giant PVC rings inflated with more than 130,000 cubic feet of air. Continue reading »
Architectural Metaamorphosis
People look at a projection on the Cathedral de la Treille, called “Architectural Metaamorphosis”, by artist “Cosmo Av” in Lille, northern France as part of the Lille Fanstastic festival. (Getty)
An Environmental Island Floating on the Equatorial Pacific
An epic project by Japanese company Shimz Corporation. A city that grows just like a lily floating on the water. A city of the equatorial region where sunlight is plentiful and the impact of typhoons is minimal. An area rising 700-1,000m above the equator. Continue reading »
