blog wunderlust: 30 August 2010

That is the problem with so much architecture. This speed is impossible. Some people think the computer is so quick, for example. But the computer does not think for you, and the time it takes us to think does not change.

Alvaro Siza

I like the way he thinks | architect promises timeless gallery | LEGO architecture: towering ambition | the $300 House: a hands-on reverse innovation? | Niemeyer designed... chocolate bar? | composting loo on the Hudson | a box of fresh air | Rietveld Jr | jewelry for the city | signs of life | confessions of an architect's spouse

The blog wunderlust is a weekly round up summarizing the architectural highlights, news and web links, that don't otherwise fit the format of this blog. If you have any to share feel free to drop me an email

James Mays LEGO house

James May (Top Gear) 20ft-tall LEGO house in Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking, Surrey that includes a working toilet and shower – using over 3 million plastic bricks built with the aid of about 1,000 volunteers.

Luminosity ::: Nelson-Atkins Museum addition

Architect Steven Holl: Paradise in Kansas City from Arcadia Pictures on Vimeo.

Architect Steven Holl: Paradise in Kansas City a short film and interview about the recently completed Bloch building an addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Missouri

The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Addis Ababa

The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by architects Dick van Gameren and Bjarne Mastenbroek with the local firm ABBA Architects which was short-listed for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2007.

Casa de retiro espiritual

Casa de retiro espiritual designed by Emilio Ambasz in 1975 that first brought the architect to international attention is one of the most compelling architectural images of our time with it's two tall white walls emerging from the landscape.

Parasol - an urban forest of shadows

This large-scale installation project in Córdoba, Spain is made of a series of prefabricated circular elements that vary in height and diameter, arranged in a flexible manner to allow an “,” the colorful parasols create a pattern of lighting and shade.

on the boards: Amstelveen crematorium

A proposal for a new crematorium located in Amsterdam, the Netherlands by Group A architects. Designed to be an addition on the site of a nineteenth century cemetery by the landscape architect Zocher, the new crematorium seeks to meet increasing and varied needs. The design is submerged into the landscape whilst the white canvas roof both echoes the mountains behind and a chimney stack.

on the boards: "engawa" Teatro Fleta

The entry for the International Ideas Competition for the Rehabilitation and Extension of the José de Yarza García Zaragoza designed Teatro Fleta de Zaragoza, Spain submitted by Magen Architects under the banner "engawa" has be awarded second place. The intervention accommodates the new spatial demands whilst preserving elements of the old like stairways and parts of the street facing façade.

on the boards: Flood Observatory

This was a competition entry for a Flood Observatory proposed on a site along the Usumacinta River, that runs between Mexico and Guatamala designed by collective of Colombian architects called Team 530. For more about the competition and the results.

house of the week 82: House in the Woods

Located in the quiet hills in the suburbs of Turin, Italy the residence seeks to make a modern synthesis with nature with exterior spaces carved from the landscape. The façade of the house is finished in layers of timber strips evoking a traditional gable roof.

Architect, unknown.

Interiors : HSBC private lounge

In 2008 as part of the Design Miami exposition, Brazilian designers the Campana brothers (Fernando & Humberto) were asked to create an exclusive lounge for the HSBC private bank. The proposal recalls the setting of traditional communal dwelling typical in the Amazon with walls made from layers of reeds.

blog wunderlust: 23 August 2010

A great building must begin with the immeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed, and in the end must be unmeasured

Louis Kahn

vertical infrastructure | Sam Mockbee documentary to air on PBS | Louis Kahn synagogue expansion stirs controversy | Zaha interview | the other glass pavilion | 10 architectural wonders of the wine world | Wallasey Town Hall, 1905 | beautiful architectural photography | building support | Scarlett & Ryan have gone Wong & Shia too

Studio Banana TV: Belzunce-Mauriño-García Millán

Studio Banana TV interviews Belzunce-Mauriño-García Millán, architects for the 356 unit hill-crawling social housing complex in Mina del Morro, Bilbao.

Woodstock Farm

Excerpted from the Checker Board Foundation's film series on famous architects and their life's work, this footage shows one of Rick Joy architects recent projects a residence located in Woodstock, Vermont.

previously

MOCA

Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland by Foreign Office Architects

on the boards: Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland

As part of the Cleveland Uptown development urban-revitalization project, London based architects FOA (Foreign Office Architects) has proposed a new 34,000 ft² home for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA). The striking geometry of the museum was inspired by the site whilst the mirrored black façade will seek to reflect the context & urban surroundings, altering with the changes to the light and weather. FOA has partnered with local architects studio Westlake Reed Leskosky

on the boards: Uptown development

Landscape architect James Corner (Field Operations) has been commissioned to design a new public square in downtown Cleveland (see proposals here) as well as a plaza for the new Farshid Moussavi (Foreign Office Architects) designed Museum of Contemporary Art. The museum and public spaces are part of a new eight-acre Uptown $150 million development in Cleveland, Ohio and will also feature apartments by Stanley Saitowitz.

more and more

new work ::: Urban Waste Management Station

Vaillo + Irigaray architects have recently completed an urban waste management station in Pamplona, Spain. The 830 m^s facility provides central recycling and waste management for the town and seeks to create an architecture for an otherwise mundane typology and dually responds to the context.

blog wunderlust: 16 August 2010

Architecture is like grafting, we are constantly inserting new objects into existing organisms (contexts) in hopes that they adapt, take life and add to their environment

Carlos Lopez (plan architectural studio)

minimalism | where's modern architecture headed? | the hand of a master architect | green prisons | parking lots for the homeless | Transverge! Marcos Novak responds to “Architects in Cyberspace, or not” | 10 Buildings that look like other things | dumpster diving or swimming pool on Park Ave | Bueller...Bueller...Bueller | the Rieveld year

Dutch Profiles ::: An Introduction

on the boards: Peace and Security Building of the African Union

The Peace and Security Building of the African Union proposed for a site in Addis Abada, Ethiopia by Henn Studio B was designed around a place for dialogue and transparency. A central spine provides a space for informal dialogue between people as well as the unifying element between the office spaces, conference and meeting rooms.

on the boards: Courthouse in Elche

The new inn in Castuera by ETB architects is a proposal for a tourist product in an urban setting on the brow on a hill overlooking the open landscape of Extremadura. The buildings were developed as a set of items, fragmented with each piece responding to the contours and slopes of the land and other aspects of the natural environment.

on the boards: Courthouse in Elche

A proposal for a new courthouse in Elche, Spain by architects Barozzi Veiga that accommodates the typical bulky programme in a compact building yet defined with a simple, expressive and sustainable structure.

Studio Banana TV: Rueda-Pizarro

Studio Banana TV interviews Rueda-Pizarro architects who recently designed a young people housing complex in Parla, Madrid.

house of the week 81: Woodstock Farm

Designed by Rick Joy architects the Woodstock Farm is a departure from his typical oeuvre of desert modernism. Located on a 210 acre farm in Woodstock, Vermont the barn-like residence responds to the local typology in form and the use of a natural palette of locally sourced materials.

Photos © Jean-Luc Laloux more via

New Work ::: "Loop" Loft

The Loop loft by Ten to One Architecture, is a renovation to a 2,500 ft² live/work in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The Loop is defined by a timber feature, made from sustainably harvested worm-infested butternut hardwood, that interacts with the space becoming a multiplicity of things - at times a floor, a ceiling, a library, etc meanwhile concealing loft's services such as radiant floor heating, air conditioning and lighting.

Ten to One Architecture is a small Brooklyn based design / build studio founded in 2004 by Garrick Jones, developed in parallel with his work as Studio Director at the award winning and internationally recognized architecture firm Della Valle Bernheimer

blog wunderlust : 9 August 2010

People (governments) seem to refuse to believe we are, as a society, defined in part by the public spaces we inhabit

Donna Sink

coast docs | when less was no more | 10 worst architectural designs in the last 25 years | Devon House to become financially self sustaining | green building according to Tetris | high line market | 74% of Americans oppose new development | Lair Tucked Under Mounds of Grass | images of the 360^o house | desert modernism

a competition for the ladies

blog wunderlust : 2nd August 2010

There is no one on earth incapable of being saved by an architect

Claude Nicolas Ledoux

107 reasons why architects matter | Vikings redesigning Times Square | design vs environmental performance | the forced ecology of occupation | world's largest tent | the maths of modern architecture | concrete coffee | Small Houses, Big Plans: Modern Model Home Design Ideas | Min/Day Architecture creates prefabricated interiors