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Architecture

The Most Spectacular Buildings That Were Never Built

By Claire Cottrell on

From Frank Lloyd Wright’s daring design for a resort high atop the Hollywood Hills to Antonio Gaudi’s grand, unrealized hotel in Manhattan, click through to check out some of the world’s most spectacular buildings that never made it off the drawing board.… Read More

Architecture

15 Essential Films About Famous Architects

By Claire Cottrell on

There’s been a flurry of activity in the world of film and architecture this week. Notable LA filmmaker and film critic Thom Andersen released his unconventional documentary Reconversão about last year’s Pritzker Prize-winning architect Eduardo Souto de Moura and their mutual fascination — one you know we share — with abandoned spaces, contemporary ruins and the societal conflicts that create them. Add to that an intriguing Kickstarter for Great Spaces, a web series by four young design enthusiasts exploring the world one space at a time, showed up in our inbox and persuaded us to champion their worthy cause.

To celebrate the very best of multidisciplinary mash-ups, we thought we’d take a look at some of the fantastic films about architects that have been made over the years. From one of the most inspiring films you will ever see about husband-wife creative powerhouse Charles and Ray Eames (notably narrated by our favorite art house badboy James Franco) to Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack’s look at America’s design darling, Frank Gehry, click through to check out our picks for must-see films focused on one of the most enigmatic and conflicted characters in the world: the architect. … Read More

Architecture

The Surprisingly Colorful Homes of 10 Famous Architects

By Claire Cottrell on

Architects often get classified as stark minimalists obsessed with the seemingly boring, non-color palette of black and white. We thought we’d dispel this myth with a virtual visit to the vibrant homes of some of our favorite design legends. Verner Panton, enfant terrible of Danish design and creator of fabulous, funky pieces in exotic colors, once said that “choosing colors should not be a gamble. It should be a conscious decision. Colors have a meaning and a function.” Color brings life, meaning, and mood to even the most simple of spaces, and when done well — in our opinion — is the sign of real genius. From Luis Barragán’s vivid pink walls to Charles and Ray Eames’ whimsical use of red, yellow and blue, click through to peek into the surprisingly colorful lives of some of the world’s most famous architects. Which would you want to live… Read More

Architecture

The Most Stunning Architecture Found in James Bond Films

By Claire Cottrell on

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est… Read More

Architecture

Spectacular Hotels Designed by Famous Architects

By Claire Cottrell on

When Frank Lloyd Wright said that “a great architect is not made by way of a brain nearly so much as he is made by way of a cultivated, enriched heart,” surely he was alluding to the fact that travel and exploration are important aspects of any designer’s process. Seriously, what better way to feed your soul and get the creative juices flowing than a fabulous get-away in an inspiring and culturally significant hotel?

A testament to the splendor of heart-driven design, we’ve married two of our favorite things – extraordinary hotels and stunning architecture – to bring you our guide to the most architecturally significant hotels in the world. From Frank Gehry’s iridescent design set against a medieval backdrop in Spain’s Rioja wine region to a recently renovated mid-century icon by John Lautner to Renzo Piano’s whimsical update of an old Fiat factory in Italy, click through to check out these visionary and inspiring designs. Let us know in the comments which one you’ll be booking for your next creative crusade! … Read More

Architecture

10 Remarkable Models Made by World Famous Architects

By Claire Cottrell on

Albert Pike, poet, Freemason, and Confederate man about town, astutely commented that “one man is equivalent to all Creation. One man is a World in miniature.” If one man represents the world than the roof over his head, and a mini version of that roof surely has some fundamental universal importance.

We love sensible and profound quotes as much as we love micro architecture, and in discovering Pritzker Prize winner Peter Zumthor’s strangely compelling large-scale models, we’ve found a new means to satisfy our obsession with little buildings. A study in micro representation, the model, as Zumthor explains, is the only way to consider the “atmosphere” of a space. Or, what we like to think of as the best way to design good vibes.

We invite you to get out some construction paper, a pair of scissors, and that old crafty standby, Elmer’s Glue, and be inspired to build your own mini proverbial universe. Made out of wacky materials like organic milk cartons, pepto bismol pink styrofoam and paper dinner napkins, click through to check out our roundup of remarkable models made by some of the world’s most important architects. … Read More

Design

10 Foods Impersonating Design Classics

By Claire Cottrell on

We all know and adore The Secret Life of Food, a quirky kids recipe book that explores food “masquerading as ordinary objects found in and around your home.” We never get tired of anthropomorphizing – well – anything, and imagining that the most common grocery store item can have another, better, more creative life is endlessly entertaining.

With that, here’s our roundup of food’s best attempts at being design important. From gummy bears pretending to be our favorite ubiquitous bearskin rug to cocktail sausages playing at Zanotta’s blow chair to Jell-O taking on the tough task of impersonating Wendell Castle’s awfully solid Castle Chair, consider this an edible masquerade ball celebrating modern design classics. Call us crazy, but we see a successful meme series in the making. Let us know in the comments: what edible personalities would you most like to see “dress up” as a modern masterpiece? … Read More

Design

3D Typography Inspired by Famous Architects

By Caroline Stanley on

If you’re the kind of person who can’t help but swoon when you come across a smartly-conceived building — or who bristles when confronted with a shoddy structure that resembles nothing more than a great, big box of ugly — then you’re going to love this 3D typography series by UK-based graphic designer Christopher Labrooy, which pays homage to the work of famed architects like Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Toyo Ito, and Oscar Niemeyer. Click through to see what he’s come up with so far, and leave your nominations for who he should tackle next in the comments. We’re thinking Renzo Piano. Or Steven Holl. Or SANAA. Or Jeanne Gang. Really, he can’t go wrong! … Read More

Architecture

Better Off Dead: A Collection of Really Embarrassing Buildings

By Eva Hagberg on

We all have our dark shameful pasts, secrets we’d rather let lie in the closet of our yearbook photos, haircuts that need never see the light of even dusk. The great thing about being completely un-famous, though, is that our pasts, while they may buy cialis online now uk

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aunt us on Facebook, aren’t physically built. No one has to live in our embarrassing high-school mistakes, and no one has to work in them. The ten architects behind the projects that follow, however, don’t have such a luxury of anonymity. Herewith we present ten projects either explicitly rejected by their designers or so tremendously equivalent to a killer side-scrunchie with Keds, that they probably should have been. Take a spin through the glory that is our Schadenfreude, and let us know about any metalmouths we’ve overlooked. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. This morning Radiohead released a video for “Lotus Flower” — the first single off the band’s latest studio album The King of Limbs — and it’s directed by Garth Jennings. But that’s not even the big news. They also made their new LP available for download a day ahead of time. [via … Read More