IMA - Institut du Monde Arabe

The Institut du Monde Arabe designed by Jean Nouvel. The Institute houses a museum, temporary exhibitions, a library and halls dedicated to current events.


Music By:
Serphonic - Somewhere

Film By: Francesco Di Capua

On the Boards: 99 Sudbury

99 Sudbury is 20,000 ft² warehouse conversion into a fitness studio, competition squash courts & lounge. The project designed by architects superkül is phased to negotiate a balance between the intimately private parts of the club and the club’s more public and urban aspect.

all images via the architects

House of the Week 124: Brown Residence

Architects Lake Flato completed the Brown residence a modest home located on a golf community, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The considerate design celebrates views to the desert and the mountains in the distance whilst shunning neighbouring residences. Though fairly inconspicuous in scale to the exterior, the design makes use of the sloping site allowing generous the spaces inside. The architects oeuvre of articulated details are manifested in swivel doors and windows welcoming the light and air of the environment into the home.

Landscape::: The Art of Jim Denevan

American sand artist Jim Denevan creates colossal geometric drawings etched into the sand freehand during the low tides. Often created with nothing more than a length of driftwood, Denevan has for nearly 20 years undertaken hundreds of unique sand drawings at beaches all around the world, however many last only only hours tide comes in.

eco-friendly WaterShed

The water inspired entry for the 2011 Solar Decathlon by the University of Maryland. via

this image was too good not to share

blog wunderlust : 26th September 2011

For all great architecture is contemporary of its time, relevant to its situation in space, time and human society-but also eternal. Without being eternal - that is in harmony with the cosmos and the evolution of life - no architecture can be called contemporary.

Hassan Fathy

Kharga market by Hassan Fathy

The 10 Coolest College Libraries | How to build a sandcastle | Architecture capital | Enough With the Scary Architecture Already! | Jeanne Gang wins MacArthur Prize | rumours emerge of illegal steel thinning in Zhengzhou, China | Energy-efficient homes seem to sell faster, fetch higher prices | 10 reasons Architects can fix it | Expert In Urban Renewal To Visit Jamaica | Ice Cube Celebrates Ray & Charles Eames | Design Miami names David Adjaye Designer of the Year Award |

last word: A Cosmic Corbusian Love Affair - Rem Koolhaas and OMA's New Building for Cornell's Architecture School

Naturally Haiti

Naturally Haiti from Urban Zen on Vimeo.

Polymorphic

SlinkyVids-Part I from Charlie Able on Vimeo.

Polymorphic is a kinetic installation, designed by ten architecture students from Columbia University GSAPP, utilizing an innovative design and engineering solution inspired by the simple kinetic action of a see-saw and the reverberating motion of a Slinky to produce a bench that moves and contours to the users touch.

sunken hull

Created from a converted cargo ship, the sunken hull of the transformed vessel now offers a pristine 8×32 meter pool that sits near level with the surface of the river offering the sensation of swimming open waters. Conceived as a multidisciplinary art project organized by the Stadtkustprojekte (City Art Project Society) of Berlin and designed architect Gil Wilk.

On the Boards: Student Activity Centre

Proposal for a new 2,400 m² METU Student Activity Centre in Istanbul, Turkey by Suyabatmaz Demirel.

On the Boards: RIBA pylon competition

Proposal by Amanda Levete Architects one of six competition finalists, including Ian Ritchie Architects, Gustafson Porter, Knight Architects, Newtown Studio and Bystrup to redesign the electricity pylons that run throughout much of the British countryside. via

On the Boards: Comprehensive Plan for the reconstruction of Jacmel, Haiti

A proposed comprehensive development plan by architecture and urbanism Trans_City for the reconstruction of Jacmel, Haiti located on the edge of the city. The concept includes a master plan and designs for prefabricated homes and light industry. The scheme utilizes prefabricated building parts manufactured in Austria, that are transported via containers and assembled on site by Haitian workers. The unpacked and the containers will be modified for use as light industrial workshops. Via

Photos: Courtesy of Architecture and Urbanism Trans_City HL / HaïtiLibre

Vernacular African Architecture Residency

The NKA Foundation is inviting participation in a Design-Build Residency programme focussed on African Vernacular Architecture.

for more

The proposed project is located in Sang a rural township in Northern Ghana, 50 km from Tamale. The project will comprise of a number of buildings that make up the Sang Arts Village and will incorporate local labor, earth and other materials from the environment. Specifically, the construction process and materials is vernacular involving cob, natural plaster, and grass thatching.

blog wunderlust : 19th September 2011

The average person doesn't exist. So by designing buildings for the average person one is designing for non-existent people

Aldington & Craig

Memory in the Making | Genting [...] reveals resort plans | The Exposed City: A Brief History of Mapping the Urban Invisibles | the Forks lands 'rock star' architect | Candy Pavilions For A Better City (Life) | 16 Architectural Details That Sing | Le Corbusier inspired fashion - what the well-dressed architect should be wearing | Designing an Architectural Masterpiece in 15 easy steps | Chicago Subway Train Transformed Into Lush Mobile Garden on Wheels!

Read more: Chicago Subway Train Transformed Into Lush Mobile Garden on Wheels! | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

last word: What 14th-century cathedrals have to do with Google, Darwin and the purpose of art’s existence.

competition ::: Rooftops Why Not?

ContestA is hosting a new contest called ROOFTOPS WHY NOT? The competition seeks both functional and architectural considerations of any kind of roofs (flat roofs, sloped, gabled, rooftops… on towers, houses, blocks, urban centers, etc). And asks;

• What uses are more convenient for a rooftop?
• Which roofs are more interesting?
• Who will be the user?
• Where should it be located?
• How large should it be?

For more information about the competition

Airstream Living

Airstream Living from WEREHAUS on Vimeo.

This is a stationary Airstream located in a suburban backyard in Berkeley, California featuring an efficient use of space whilst still recalling the adventure and call for the open road.

930 Poydras

A tour of 930 Poydras, a progressive new apartment building in downtown New Orleans, LA, winner of the 2011 RADA award.

930 Poydras from Alternative Cut Productions on Vimeo.

Librarything does quirky

Librarything has added a new physical description feature that catalogues your books by volume, pagination, height, length, weight and other dimensions. The new feature makes quirky comparisons to such things as blue whales and elephants, but also gives more useful information like the height/length of your books stacked up. Sign up today to see how your books stack up

blog wunderlust : 12th September 2011

Sometimes, in architecture, there's a sense that the building has to separate its inhabitants from outside completely

Tim Hay

Barbie's Dream House | Drawing on experience: Pompeii | Rugged Individualism: A rammed-earth house accommodates a farmer mentality | The sweet life of the non-practicing architect | Broccoli House | Critic's Notebook: Apple's new campus will be a retrograde cocoon | Experts hope Denver's loss of another star architect won't hurt future projects | 10 coolest garages | Right, Wrong, and Reality!

last word: Every drop counts

In College Park, Water as Formgiver

Water is power. That’s the belief of a team of architects, artisans, faculty and students from the University of Maryland, whose WaterShed entry into next week’s Solar Decathlon seeks to prove the point.

read more

Designing the Future

Designing the Future from Ron Bourke on Vimeo.

This documentary explores the ways the process of architecture is changing.

On the Boards: Pavilions & Follies

designed a series of pavilions and follies with different public functions and programs on a 113 hectare green space along the Seine river, in Carrière-Sous-Poissy Paris, France. The competition brief included a visitor’s centre, guinguettes, an observatory & about a dozen smaller “follies” with less defined programmes.

House of the Week 123: Laurel Residence

A single family house in Houston, Texas designed by architects StudioMET. Internally the home is designed around a open communal area containing the kitchen, dinning and living room, whilst the exterior balances a palette of low maintenance materials.

Design Challenge: Playhaus

Dwell is on the hunt for the kind of structures sure to slow passersby, and be the envy of fun-loving kids and sophisticated parents alike. Wow them with renderings of fantastical funhouses for the mini design enthusiasts in the making; whether you're inspired by the Bauhaus or Versailles, go wild and channel your inner child.

CityFabric.net

Matt Tomasulo (a grad student in Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning) started CityFabric, a young start-up whose core focus is to engage people in conversations about their cities.

-Design: figureground maps showing the building footprints of the city
-Exhibits: he just had an opening reception for their NY exhibit called New York Scaled.
-Products: t-shirts, totes, pillows, prints, canvases
-Kickstarter: to launch "Wear You Live," their design + apparel line for 13 cities

The greater concept of CityFabric is reaching out to the general public to talk about place in a way they might not be familiar with. This is information learned from analyzing the figuregrounds: the history of why a place came to be, the notion of density and its implications, what could inform future growth, etc.

2012 eVolo Magazine Skyscraper Competition

eVolo is pleased to invite students, architects, engineers, designers, and artists from around the globe to take part in the eVolo 2012 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture.

Judges include Ma Yansong, Chris Bosse, Maria Ailova among others

blog wunderlust : 5th September 2011

Of all the arts, architecture is the most practical and down to earth, and yet it seems to be the one that frightens most West Indians

Anthony C Lewis

WikiHouse, An Online Building Kit, Shows How To Make A House In 24 Hours | Challenges and benefits of “going green” in Nigeria | Dan Wood, architecture student, named Britain's Best Dressed Man 2011 by Esquire magazine | Impressions | Architectural photographer creates impossible edifices | Penrose: "People love to mock architects" | Respect the Architect | Stanley Tigerman: The Retrospective


last word: a pair of architecture graduates Lee Wilshire and Nick Varey have launched an initiative called Riot Rebuild to help repair homes and businesses in areas of the UK affected by recent riots.

House Folded

Ard Zuar Jarrett College Lifestyle Interview

College Lifestyle interviews edgy, young Jamaican architectural designer & director of KLE group Ard Zuar Jarrett