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We love collisions of culture as much as the next guy, but we have to admit to having a soft spot for those involving provocative hip-hop artists and legendary New York cultural institutions. A few months ago the most venerable of concert halls welcomed Jay-Z’s charity performance in what The New York Times hailed as “the highest-profile hip-hop show ever at Carnegie Hall.” Decked out in a white satin Tom Ford dinner jacket adorned with a diamond Cartier lapel pin, Jay-Z defined blinged-out class. As the Times’ music reviewer went on to write, “more than any of his peers Jay-Z understands the cultural politics of infiltration, and as he gets older, he has made it more the subject of his music.”

We were reminded that bling has transcended the world of rap, even sneaking in to the bourgeois world of architecture, when we stumbled across the whimsical large-scale sequin architectural installations of Theresa Himmer. We couldn’t help but wonder what other sparkling structures might exist in the world. From a blue crystal encrusted urban revitalization project in London to Margiela’s shimmering Beverly Hills boutique to a small gold glitter covered house in the Egyptian desert, click through to check out some of the best building bling out there (and, yes, we will be taking credit for coining that phrase).

Glacier #01 – Reykjavik, Iceland

Image credit: Theresa Himmer