house of the week 053: House K

House K is a single family residence in Zagreb, Croatia by architects 3LHD built around a central atrium used to provide sunlight in the living-room area.

blog wunderlust : 18 January 2010

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

earthquakes don't kill people, buildings do follow the link to see what you can do to aid those in Haiti

Prehistoric building found in modern Israeli city | blind architects has a feel for the site | Barbie as an architect? | homeless city in the woods | flawed building likely a big element | The Most Over-Rated Architects + Architects who deserve more credit | beyond neo-victorianism | Gehry calls it quits | 250 ft green wall | Benjamin Latrobe: America's First Architect

links: the Design-Build Network
also the architects + film post has been updated

In working with concrete you can create disappearing curving space, all kinds of spaces that are solid and real and free

John Lautner

And the winner is??

The masses have voted (twice) and it is widely felt (at least by our humble viewers) that architect Steven Holl will likely be awarded architecture's high honour, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Let's hope our prediction holds true

top 10 things architects will never say

built to last

Great video (except up to 2:06 into it where it assumes the solution to suburbanism is new urbanism versus urban or city living but that's another discussion kiddies). It was the Winner of the Congress for New Urbanism CNU 17 video contest.

Kirnu - the Giant's Kettle

Finland Pavilion Kirnu by JKMM architects

on the boards: MAMM

51-1 architects competition proposal of stacked textured boxes for the design for a complementary building to house the extension to the Museo de Arte Moderno in Medellín, Colombia (MAMM)

ACSAC ::: Haiti Response

Association of Commonwealth Societies of Cariibean Architects ( ACSAC )

Linda Moore ACSAC Deputy Chair has made contact with Graham Saunders who is Head, Shelter and Settlements Department for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). Graham is coordinating the shelter response by the UN, Red Cross and NGO's and is currently coordinating the international community shelter response to the current crisis.

He has outlined to us what ACSAC can effectively do at this time and in reparation for ways in which we may be able to contribute to the relief effort. For the link for the summary

on the boards: The New York Korea Centre

The New York studio of SAMOO Architects and Engineers (Seoul, Korea) has won an international competition for the design of The New York Korea Centre, a new home for the Korean Cultural Service in New York with aspirations towards LEED Plantinum. More via Inhabitat

on the boards: Bungoma House

The Bungoma House proposed for a site in Kenya is centred around an internal courtyard that provides view and ventilation to the rooms. The proposal, part of the One Acre Fund Housing project is intended to be handed over to a family on completion. Construction to commence January 2010.

on the boards: Finnish Pavilion (Shanghai Expo)

Dubbed the giant's kettle or kirnu, was the winning design for the Finnish pavilion for the 2010 Shanghai Exposition designed by JKMM architects. Currently under construction the design was conceived as a microcosm of Finland, it's people and culture.

on the boards: Fort d'Issy-Les-Moulineaux

A residential proposal for a 7 story, 50 apartment building in France by Hondelatte + Laporte architects. The plan is composed of two shifted ellipses creating terraces with panoramic views.

House of the Week 052: Uccle 2003

Designed by Belgian architect Marc Corbiau the sleek fair faced concrete house sits partially submerged on a rolling green, revealing an elegant composition on the interior.

also check out this proposal for an Instant house by H3AR

blog wunderlust : 11 January 2010

buildings of disaster | 10 best in nyc over the last 10 years | World's tallest building pointless? or a building to look up to? | a wiki devoted to all things morphosis | Bird's Nest revisited | the beauty of concrete | open source architecture 2.0 | AD 100 | a hammock cafe | blueprints of the Eiffel tower | the buildings outside the box to shape the next decade

Architecture, of all the arts, is the one which acts the most slowly, but the most surely, on the soul

Ernest Dimnet

The Third and the Seventh

The Third & The Seventh from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

:output student competition

Works produced by students are often only shown to a limited audience, this competition aims to change that. :output is the largest international student competition for students of design and architecture and judged by an international panel. Registration is open and closes the 15th February 2010 - Grand Prize is € 3,000.

UE-House

AJ Top 5 Architecture for Pets

AJ Top Five: Architecture for Pets from The Architects' Journal on Vimeo.

on the boards: European Central Bank

Austrian architects Coop Himmelb(l)au have won a competition with a 185 metre tall, double-towered design for the European Central Bank headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.

on the boards: Kunstmuseum Extension

Christ + Gantenbein architects have been awarded first prize in a competition to design an extension to the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Switzerland.

Metropolis Next Generation Competition

landscape ::: Montser's Footprints

designed by Chinese architects MAD, this project was created as part of the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Architecture and Urbansim Biennale. Dubbed the Monster’s Footprint, the project consists of 120 square metres of pink rubber laid over a site of dunes and valleys.

Architecture Revolution

The Architecture Revolution design competition was born out of the instability of the architecture industry and decades of recessions to generate productivity, through the development of architectural, artistic & media activity

blog wunderlust : 28 December 2009

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

.
decade in detail | National Gallery of Jamaica | Furniture by David Adjaye | Ground Zero subway | Gehry to design non-profit theatre in nyc | images of Beirut between 1991 to 2003 | Abitare interview with Renzo Piano | carpark as a way of life | Autodesk video game | 10 houses to see before you die | best architecture of the decade | poorly designed public buildings: Turkey

podcast on ecological urbanism

Architecture is a continuing dialogue between generations which creates an environment across time.

Vincent Scully

Pritzker Prize ::: 2010 Prize - revisted

Due to the overwhelming votes in favour of Steven Holl - approximately 50% at last count, we've decided to revise the polls on the 2010 Pritzker Prize. Instead the we are making it a three way poll Holl against Japanese architects Shigeru Ban, known for his innovative work with paper and Toyo Ito equally admired for his highly conceptual works. Aside from the previous laureates, these architects are defining contemporary architecture in their own unique way.

House of the Week 051: Casa Santa Margarita

a single family house in Santa Margarita, northeast Mallorca, Spain by SCT architects. The residence is a dialogue between the solidity of the concrete, the lightness of the wood and the fragility of the glass.

more in Spanish

Shigeru Ban

Happy Holidays enjoy this Shigeru Ban Interview by L/Studio

blog wunderlust : 21 December 2009

thermae bath spa by Nicholas Grimshaw Architects

102 and still counting, happy birthday Oscar Niemeyer | a pair of pixelated high rises by SAKO | aerial photos of England | smashing windows - criminal art | Frank and the Rabbi | gingerbread architecture

WAN posters now available

The sun never knew how wonderful it was until it fell on the wall of a building

Louis Kahn

Studio Banana TV ::: Toyo Ito

Studio Banana TV interviews Japanese architect Toyo Ito on the occasion of his lecture at and with the sponsorship of the European University of Madrid.

Saving Lieb House

Director Jim Venturi documents the epic journey of the Lieb House designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (his parents), as it makes it's trek over land and sea to its new home in Long Island in the film Saving Lieb House. More

on the boards: Faroe Islands Education Centre

Danish architects BIG with local collaborators Fuglark have been awarded first place in a competition to design an Education Centre in Marknagil on the Faroe Islands housing a both a Technical College and a Business College as well as a Gymnasium in one building. With a capacity of 1,200 students and 300 teachers the facility, when complete, will be the largest building on the islands.

Call from Proposals ::: Triple Canopy

Triple Canopy - a collective of with writers, artists, researchers and other collaborators on projects that deal critically with culture and politics, and the ways people engage them, both online and in the world at large, is holding its first call for proposals. They will be commissioning a variety of projects outlined below. Submissions and proposals are due by 15 February 2010.

Research Work
Internet as Material
Thinking through Images
New Media Reporting Project
New Programming

For more detailed information, visit.

inflatable architecture

The notion of a less dangerous Hindenburg blimp, as seen in Archigram's Instant city slowly hovering the English countryside has proven to be fertile ground space to a new generation of designers.

hot air blog

Spacebuster ::: an installation by Raumlabor a German student led collective that aims to create ephemeral places or shelter-bubbles in public space. And a peanut shaped tea-house by Kengo Kuma

and now Abitare are annoucing at DS+R have proposed an inflatable extension to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC.

blog wunderlust : 14 December 2009

Lady Gaga Gehry | Swarovski Crystal Palace | top 10 buildings of the decade and the top 5 architectural bloopers | RIP FOA | rethinking Dubai | Italian Prime Minister attacked with a cast model of the Duomo Cathedral in Milan ( not the The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore as previously stated) | bigger buildings may not be better


new links ::: an international architecture guide for your iPhone and a site devoted to leadholders and mechanical pencils

It is essential to an architect to know how to see: I mean to see in such a way that the vision is not overpowered by rational analysis.

Luis Barragan

Starck Tv ::: Design for Life

Design for Life from design on Vimeo.

Philippe Starck has a new show out called “Design for Life” on the BBC.

Studio Banana TV ::: Juan Navarro Baldeweg

Studio Banana TV features the Canal Theatre building in Madrid with explanations by its author, Spanish architect Juan Navarro Baldeweg.

on the boards: Mill Centre of the Arts

The proposal for the Mill Centre of the Arts by New York based architects Easton + Combs

on the boards: Glen Oaks Branch Library

This proposed 18,000 sf LEED certified library designed by Marble Fairbanks replaces an existing one story facility building with a programme that includes collections, periodicals, community meeting rooms and reading areas for adults and children.

House of the Week 050: the Cube (Lac Superieur)

Located near the ski hills of Mont Tremblant in Quebec, Canada this vacation home - dubbed the Cube by locals for its composition of intersecting volumes, was designed by architects Saucier + Perrotte in 2004. The volumes hold the three functional areas, sleeping on the top, middle for entry and living and the lowest for play.

also take a look at a recent feature in the times called Recycled Houses

on the boards: Quad cinema + arts centre

Competition entry for a new cinema and arts centre complex in Derby by Rick Mather Architects.

2010 Pritzker Prize...

Developing from to a recent conversation about who the next Pritzker Prize laureate would be I have decided to run a poll to run 2010. Please vote and email if your candidate isn't on the list.

added to the side pane

on the boards: Vallentuna Library

A proposal by architects Larsson Lindstrand Palme for a library and culture house in commissioned in 2008 by the Vallentuna municipality, Sweden.

Open Source House Design Competition

The Open Source Housing initiative is hosting an International Design Competition starting on 15th January 2010 and is open to team or individual participation. The challenge is to design an expandable and sustainable house. The modular construction should be suitable for local implementation and affordable for its future owners. The winner will have their design built in Ghana.

blog wunderlust : 07 December 2009

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.

dispatchwork | They may make a living at the drafting table, but on the road they can't seem to draw the line | the Guyana project | the glass house is in vogue and the thermae vals is model architecture | living with things | RIP Malcolm Wells | Peter the Pritzker peddling hermit genius

Also make sure and check out the Archinect competition Switzerland we have a problem

Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions.

Coco Chanel

Wallpaper* Future 30

Wallpaper* future 30 at the 4th International Architecture Biennale in Rotterdam, Netherlands

TED talks ::: Magnus Larsson

Architecture student Magnus Larsson elaborates on his concept to reduce the growth of the Sahara desert by creating dunes made from sand and bacteria.

on the boards: Rue Rebière

Swiss architects EM2N have proposed this housing block along a thin landscaped strip on Rue Rebière, Paris as part of a 180 room project to include blocks designed by Avignon Clouet, Atelier Bow Wow, among others.

House of the Week - a retrospective

Over the last 50 weeks we've presented contemporary houses from around the globe (US, Japan and Australia mostly) and from a variety of architects - houses with odd titles, some that render the function of the house and others that seem to follow the alphabet.

001 TDA House, Mexico
002 Casa Bellicini, Italy
003 Terrace House, Israel
004 Casa San Isidro, Argentina
005 McKinley Compound, California
006 Tattoo House, Australia
007 Surfhouse, California
008 Blackwell House, Arkansas
009 700 Palms, California
010 Haus W, Germany
011 Raumati House, New Zealand
012 Ant Farm, Taiwan
013 Sculptor House, Chile
014 House in Curitiba, Brazil
015 Eggo House, Czech Republic
016 Hanghaus Weidling, Australia
017 NX House, Portugal
018 5ive, Minneapolis
019 Loblolly House, Maryland
020 Azuma House, Japan
021 Clontarf, Australia
022 Cliffhanger, Greece
023 Slot House, New York
024 Villa Cote d'Azur, France
025 Grangegorman, Ireland
026 Phoenix, Jamaica
027 Cascade House, Canada
028 Desert Nomad House, Arizona
029 Lake House, Washington
030 Brosmith House, California
031 House 2, India
032 House in Kasumi, Japan
033 Residence F, Germany
034 Thiang Residence, Australia
035 Villa Malaparte, Italy
036 Bangkok House, Thailand
037 Sumaré, Brazil
038 T-House, New York
039 Casa N, Mexico
040 Villa Dall'Ava, France
041 N-House, Japan
042 Otake House, Japan
043 Big Sur, California
044 Farnsworth House, Illinois 
045 K18V123, Netherlands
046 Heeren Shophouse, Malaysia
047 Tubac, Arizona
048 Sorrento, Australia
049 Spaghetti House, California

We are seeking suggestions for the next 50 especially from countries not listed.

Barratt Homes has the best deals on homebuy direct in the UK.

criticism: what's next for Dubai?

With news of the financial crisis in Dubai, and now their requests to have a 6-month reprieve on their debt payments (nearly 60 billion) I'm left to wonder about its architectural implication. Not that there won't be any more symbols of excess in the desert by signature architects, rather the next step in this rapid evolution. Dubai in the first decade of the 21st century has created a legacy in architecture arguably on par with the reconstruction of post-war Europe. But with that the great implication lies. Shall these works be torn apart and the scraps be sold to recover it's debt? With everyone from Sotheby's to Christies cashing in on the fetish of parts. Or shall special interest groups similar to the Royal Society or DOCOMOMO come to the rescue lobbying to preserve their architectural interests? The tide is changing, will this too be carried out to sea?

blog wunderlust: 30 November 2009

green architecture, design and façades | LEGO challenge (video) | matching art and architecture in Miami | the banality of evil fashion | floating among the stars | twitter's office | fabric re-hab

another preview of My Playground (what is it about architecture documentaries and the use of the word "my")