What’s more rare than a blue moon? A beautiful blue building! If you haven’t heard, there will be a blue moon rising in the Eastern sky tonight at 7:25pm. One of the more famous astrological occurrences (thanks in part to the world’s most popular love song), a blue moon isn’t actually blue, it’s just the term used to describe the second full moon in a month, which appears, on average, every 2.7 years.
In talking about the significance of the shade, Yves Klein, the French artist famous for his monochromatic paintings of the hue, said that “blue has no dimensions; it is beyond dimensions, whereas the other colours are not… blue suggests at most the sea and sky, and they, after all, are in actual, visible nature what is most abstract.” In honor of tonight’s lunar event, we thought we’d take a look at some of the most intriguing blue architecture in the world to see if his statement holds up. From a design experiment exploring the psychological effects of living in an entirely blue world to Frida Kahlo’s cobalt colored home in Mexico City, click through to check out some of the most beguiling blue buildings around the world.
Didden Village by MVRDV — Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Image credit: Rob ‘t Hart via ARQA; ArchitectureTrips
An imaginative rooftop mini-village by the avant-garde Dutch design firm MVRDV is statement architecture at its very best. Each structure is a private residence, but each room is a separate house. Trees and picnic benches are installed in the “alleys” throughout.
Beukelsblue by Schildersbedrijf N&F Hijnen — Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Image credit: BaraSkit
Slated for demolition, this abandoned building was painted blue to beautify an abandoned block.
Blue House by Peter Kaschnig — Klagenfurt, Austria
Image credit: Peter Kaschnig
As an article in The Sun reported, Kasching said that he “wanted to see the psychological effects of living surrounded by just one color.”
BLUE by Bernard Tschumi — New York, New York
Image credit: Bernard Tschumi Architects
The pixelated, 17-story residential tower in New York’s Lower East Side is meant to fit in with the eclecticism of the community. The blue glass is beautiful, but we wouldn’t really say that it’s “fitting in”?
House Equanimity by Joseph N. Biondo — Northampton, Pennsylvania
Image credit: Alcoholic Architect
We like to call this modern living in blue, done well.
Decos Technology Group headquarters by Inbo Architects — Noordwijk, the Netherlands
Image credit: Gerard van Beek via dezeen
This ice blue corporate headquarters is meant to look like a meteorite that dropped from the sky. Great design inspiration.
Pacific Design Center by Cesar Pelli — West Hollywood, California
Image credit: All Things Considered
This humungous blue design campus is affectionately referred to as “The Blue Whale.” We wonder how the architect feels about that?
Vinegar Cafe by Himematsu Architecture — Fukuoka, Japan
Image credit: Shinichiro Himematsu via dezeen
One of the more unusual cafe concepts we’ve ever seen, this lunch spot in a converted 130-year-old house serves dishes made with the variety of vinegars produced in a factory next door.
BirdHide for The Blue Fence Project by StudioSuperniche — London, England
Image credit: StudioSuperniche
One of many clever, quirky designs from The Olympic Legacy Toolkit, this modern birdwatching shed is made out of wood from the infamous 11-mile long blue security fence that ringed the site for the London Olympics. When construction was completed, it was torn down, but this resourceful group of students designed a catalogue of cool structures to populate the vacant space post-Games. Brilliant.
The Frida Kahlo Museum — Mexico City, Mexico
Image credit: Tamana Hachiharu
Frida Kahlo was born, and also died in this striking cobalt blue house in the Colonia del Carmen neighborhood of Coyoacán in Mexico City. After her death, her husband, Diego Rivera donated the home and its contents in order to turn it into a museum in Frida’s honor.