On the Boards : Lifeboard Station

Paul Raff Studio has won a competition for the new Lifeguard Stands for the City of Toronto, Canada. The design is both pragmatic and humanistic and marries technical requirements for storage, signage, public safety, durability and cost. The design aims to be iconic as a beacon to patrons of the beach with the material, texture, colour and proportion.

On the Boards : Strand East

Swedish homeware retailer IKEA has released images of its planned community in London called Strand East. The 11Ha mixed-use urban development of rental apartments and commercial spaces was designed by Arc-ML a car-free development serviced by buses. Construction to start in 2013. Via

House of the Week 137: Kappe Residence

The 370m² residence was designed by architect Ray Kappe in 1967 for himself and his family in the rustic canyon of Pacific Palisades, LA. The house is cut into the steep hillside with cantilevered decks reaching into the environment much like a traditional tree house. Supported by a number of 30" thick timber beams from six concrete towers, the house appears at times floats about the rocky terrain. In 1996 it was named a historic & cultural monument in Los Angeles.

blog wunderlust : 9th April 2012

The Manifesto for a New Urbanism That Came Before 'New Urbanism' | Good architecture was their MISSION | Google saves energy by cooling its buildings with ice | Paul Goldberger Moves To Vanity Fair, Eulogies For Architecture Criticism Not Far Behind | City Of Fog | Bridge Made Of 3-D Pixels Can Take On Countless Configurations | Lessons on Zoning from Miami | Royal Flush: How Roger Thomas redesigned Vegas |

software : Tekla Offers BIMsight 1.4 for Free

last word: Congress for New Urbanism promotes New Urbanism with twelve pictures of not-New Urbanism

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

Maison du Brésil

Maison du Brésil at the Cité Universitaire complex in Paris was designed by Le Corbusier for Brazilian students and researchers, in 1959. The initial design was produced by the great Brazilian architect Lucio Costa who latter asked Le Corbusier to help develop the project, but the project was so profoundly changed subsequently that it is accredited to the Franco-Swiss master.

This must be the Place

Allan is the caretaker and resident at the Albert Kahn designed Packard factory. Despite years of neglect and decay he finds beauty and comfort enough to call it home.

HILL from thismustbetheplace on Vimeo.

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is a series of short films that explore the idea of home; what makes them, how they represent us, why we need them.

On the Boards : Orphanage and Children’s Centre

The US Building Council and international architectural practice HOK have partnered together to design an orphanage and children’s centre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The design uses biomimicry referencing the Kapok tree, native to Haiti, both in the branch-like external structural system and the cooling aspect of the second skin. Post via

Images courtesy of HOK

House of the Week 136: Palms Residence

Images by David Lena

Located on a narrow, urban lot in Venice, California, this private residence was designed by Marmol Radziner. The home closes itself from the exterior with a series of screening techniques, including landscaping, fencing, and cedar louvered panels. The interior opens up with a small courtyard space incorporating covered decks giving the structure a sense of privacy. The millwork is finished in custom walnut, floors in the more public areas feature concrete, with the more personal spaces on the first floor in sustainably harvested hickory.

Sponsored link: whirlpool refrigerators

New Work: A-Frame

Jamaican-born designer Sean Knibb has converted a defunct IHOP restaurant in Culver City, LA into a unpretentious, yet trendy Korean-fusion restaurant. The design exposes the Douglas fir ceiling and covers the walls in white pine with unmasked knots, revealing the form of the A-frame. Colour blocks of yellow and red are used on the doors and columns as well to highlight aspects of the design. The interior spills out to a concrete patio and garden featuring low-maintenance plants and with ornamental grass.

 

Photography by Sarah Lonsdale for Remodelista and via A-Frame

blog wunderlust : 2nd April 2012

Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

photos by Dylan Wolfe

origami fashion by Issey Miyake | taffy stairs | happy birthday Mies | Applying Jane Jacobs tenets of vibrant neighborhoods to car-based cities | landscape light sculptures | An 80-Ton Bird’s Nest | Post-It Structures by Yo Shimada | Why Drive Up To A Theatre, When You Can Float Up To It? | An afternoon with David & Fritz | The Carrot Tray, Reborn | de Stijl inspired dollhouses |

last word: architectural lettering of London-artist Jing Zhang

Star architect fear for his masterpiece

The remote alpine village of Vals in the eastern Swiss canton of Graubünden rose to fame when star architect Peter Zumthor built new thermal baths there in 1996. The spa is well known for its quarzite slab construction. Now the surrounding hotel complex is in need of renovation. An investor has offered to buy the whole site, but Zumthor fears for the future of his masterpiece.

David Adyaye

British architect David Adjaye, OBE was awarded Design Miami 2012 Designer of the Year, Crane.tv interviews him at the Wolfsonian museum in Miami to discuss the award and why he always draws inspiration from his heritage.

On the Boards : Pedestrian Bridge Competition

Spanish architects Nicolas Montesano, Victor Vila, Boris Hoppek were recently awarded announced the winners for their proposal for the Amsterdam Iconic Pedestrian Bridge competition. The proposal a central enclosed space or water plaza is defined by its circular shape partially submerged underwater to allow boats can cross through whilst pedestrians and cyclists can pass along its perimeter.

images courtesy of the architects

House of the Week 135: Cliff House

Photography by Tim Bies

The residence on a cliffside lot in Gig Harbour, Washington was designed by Architect Scott Allen while a still named principal at Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen. The programme of the house is inverted as one descends stairs to the water interspersed by a series of decks, terraces, and bridges that create spaces for living and entertaining. The palette of materials were selected for their abilities to withstand this marine environment, including copper, concrete and cedar.

blog wunderlust : 26th March 2012

We all see more of architecture than any other art. Every street is a gallery of architect's work

CE Montague

The Roots of Sprawl: Why We Don't Live Where We Work | The Influence of Bauhaus on Architecture in Early Palestine and Israel | Michael Kimmelman Will Not Play Your Architecture Games | iPad App to Replace Printed Blueprints? | Saving Rudolph, Once Again and the Two-Year Renovation of Mies van der Rohe’s Villa Tugendhat is Complete | New Getty initiative aims to boost preservation of modern architecture | Calatrava's Peace Bridge to open tomorrow today in Calgary | BIG is working on a new residential tower in Miami

last word: This is the most colorful and fun police station in the world

SmartSpace 1.0

To create a smarter space, Kennedy constructed a 160-square-foot test home (the smallest legal-sized apartment for California) inside a Berkeley warehouse. SmartSpace 1.0 is filled with innovations like the SmartBench, an adjustable banquette that converts from a dining table to a guest bed.

Great Spaces - Season 1 Ep.5: LOT- EK x Van Alen Books

Van Alen Books is a new architecture and design bookstore and public reading room located in NY designed by architects LOT-EK.

Studio Banana Tv::: Ma Yansong

Beijing-based architect Ma Yansong (MAD architects) is interviewed by Studio Banana TV as he elaborates on a new generation of architects

On the Boards : Embassy Housing, Haiti

Sorg Architects has designed new, sustainable, staff housing for the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The project consists of 107 new townhouse units, a new Mission residence, and support facilities, including a recreation and sports centre. Completion is scheduled for January 2014

Landscape ::: Sensational Park

The aim of the Sensational Park in Frosinone, Italy was to harmonize the relationship between nature and urbanism. The design based around the 5 senses invites users to define their own path discovering different spaces along the journey. Designed by Nabito Architects & Partners the park was completed in October 2009 and is comprised of a series of truncated cones submerged amongst the landscape.

images courtesy of the architects

blog wunderlust : 19th March 2012

Architecture, however complex and subtle it may be in its more sophisticated forms, can begin with something as simple as sitting on a sand-dune looking out to sea.

Simon Unwin

'Postcards From the Architect', An Architect's Take On Famous Landmarks | An architect's hat trick | if a man tells you his favorite book is The Fountainhead, run away | Critics' reactions to London's new bus | Alvaro Siza in Machu Picchu | New Digicel Building Downtown Kingston – A Catalyst for Development? | Moleskine Inspiration & Process in Architecture Series | Tom Kundig on the Frey House II | The Shapes of Hardcore Architecture | Visions for the Last Section of the High Line | Boldface Buildings in the Cold Light of Now

Last Word: Don't forget the FUN in function

Studio Tv ::: Collage House

Studio Banana TV features the Collage House with commentary by the architects Ramon Bosch and Bet Capdeferro

House of the Week 134: Villa Shoestring

Located on Gibbs Beach, on the West Coast of Barbados this single-family beach house is framed by the vegetation on site and the sea. The residence designed by Architects Cubed (Linda Moore & Shawna Beechley) with landscape by Talma Mill Studios is a modern interpretation of the Chattel - a timber vernacular house native to Barbados.

Photography: Bob Kiss

Blog Wunderlust : 12th March 2012

The only way to make truly sustainable architecture is to connect our buildings to nature - not insulate them from it!

Rachel Armstrong

Historic Building Lies In Ruins | Cities are banking on the arts | An urban world (UNICEF population projections) | Habitat 67 wins LEGO contest and (LEGO) architect| Can designers fix America’s suburban foreclosure challenges? | (video) Man Moves Huge Blocks! | Library Parks Foster Community in Colombia | Architects push to make Denver's Santa Fe Arts District more pedestrian friendly | Secret City: The Illegal Architecture of Tawian | Peter Marino Likes Playing Bad Cop


last word: women architects - f’ing cool

Meet the Architect: Sammamish Library

Ryan Bussard of architecture firm Perkins + Will talks about the new Sammamish Library.

Farnsworth Exhibition Centre

With the repeated flooding problems at the Mies van der Rohe designed Farnsworth House, concerns arose damaged original artefacts as well for additional exhibition space. Many of these include Mies designed wardrobe can no longer remain on display at the Farnsworth House. The director of the Farnsworth House, Whitney French approached the design build studio at the Illinois Institute of Technology headed by Professor Frank Flury to design a space to house both the wardrobe and various exhibitions on the Farnsworth property in Plano, IL.

On the Boards : Student Housing, TU Delft

Amsterdam based practice Studioninedots with HVDN has recently won an invited competition to design a student housing facility for TU Delft Campus in the Netherlands. The proposal for 140 standardized student units, each 24m² housed in a 5 storeys high on 388m² site is part of a 1000 room expansion taking place on the TU Delft campus.

Free Lecture

A free lecture of the building the Cathedral’s Chancel in 1848-53 by Dr. James Robertson. The lecture includes part of a BBC documentary featuring the Cathedral and one of its historic John Bacon monuments. To be held at 6:00 p.m. Sunday, March 11, 2012 at the Spanish Town Anglican Cathedral, Spanish Town, JAMAICA.

New Work ::: Wetland Folly

This otherworldly outdoor dining pavilion (sighted on Remodelista) was designed by South African-trained, New Zealand-based Lance and Nicky Herbst of Herbst Architects. The simple outdoor structure - a clever folly designed to enhance the beach lifestyle for its owners, was conceived to be used for light cooking, dining and relaxing. The pavilion is made of a simple structural frame over-clad with awnings, screens and translucent sheet blending rustic elements (a timber frame clad with rough manuka sticks) with modern materials (translucent sheets of polycarbonate siding).

Blog Wunderlust : 5th March 2012

"Fashion is architecture. It's a matter of proportions"

Coco Chanel

Engineer Calls Chicago's Aqua Tower "Architectural Pornography" | Snow Drawings | Norihiko Dan: harmonizing earth and architecture | architectural hair | Work Wear: Office Style at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill | The little Pritzker Committee that Almost Could | Architect Uses Ancient Techniques To Cool Modern Building in India | Signature Design by Gehry | Why Don’t We Read About Architecture? | Will Pritzker Be Pivotal for China? | the Value of Architecture

last word: 2012 Lewis Mumford Lecture on Urbanism

Studio Banana Tv ::: MUCA Music Hall

Studio Banana TV features the COR designed MUCA Music Hall and auditorium with explanations by the architects.

Arena by 3XN

Arena by architects 3XN