On the Boards: Kunsthalle Mannheim

German practice gmp architects (von Gerkan, Marg and Partners) have won a closed competition to design the new Kunsthalle Mannheim. The louvred facade and palette of the proposed scheme contrasts with the city context with its choice of colours and materials aiding to the structure's dynamic presence.

On the Boards: Baimbridge Lycée Général et Technologique

Architects Pile et Face have proposed a renovation to the Baimbridge Lycée Général et Technologique (general high and techology college) located in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe. The new works will include modern sporting grounds, classrooms and facilities.

blog wunderlust: 11th February 2013

Architecture is a discipline that speaks to all your senses.

Pierre de Meuron

National Register of Historic Places Recognizes Two Post-War Parks | 180-Foot Tall Mural In Brazil: In Memory of Oscar Niemeyer | ‘Buildings’ That Literally Suck | Hillary Clinton uses Frank Gehry's architecture as an analogy for how to restructure world policies | Balthazar Korab, Architectural Photographer, Dies at 86 | RIBA awards gold medal to architecture’s man of mystery

controversy: Of all things to stop starchitect Bjarke Ingels in his plans for world domination, a TREE!

last word: The Beautiful Hand-Drawn Home Facades Of Burkina Faso

Making Room

Introducing Making Room: a research, design and advocacy project to shape New York’s housing stock to address the changing needs of how we live now. Find out more via

Making Room from Urban Omnibus on Vimeo.

Delaine Isaac's #MyGroundZero Trailer

The first in a series of 3 trailers making up My Ground Zero, a documentary that spans the years before and after, from its 9/11 events to the reconstruction, tributes and monuments a decade later.

On the Boards: Xcalacoco

Xcalacoco, designed by Mexican practice Hierve, is a proposed apartment complex located on a long heavily landscaped site infront of the Caribbean sea . Each apartment building has only 7 122m² units with facades that open to control the sunlight and privacy. The floors of each block is painted in a different sharp color, resembling the colours used on the local fishing boats.

blog wunderlust: 04 February 2013

The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of the cheapest price is forgotten.

Anonymous

image source

The "Ultima" Tower, Two-mile High Sky City | Le Corbusier's Ecology: What Modern Architecture Teaches Us About Green Design | life at the top - what a window washer sees | In Renderings for a Library Landmark, Stacks of Questions | Save the Architecture Learning for Graduate School | An Architect Gone Mad: Mysterious Buildings Assembled from Found Photographs by Jim Kazanjian and Architectural Photography That Breaks Your Brain On Second Glance |

last word: Hall Of Fame Museum Insult

ELEVEN ELEVEN

Miami Beach is legendary for many things – and a parking garage is now on that list. It's known as Eleven Eleven, and it has changed people’s perception about what a utilitarian structure can be; and has ignited conversations worldwide about its design and use. This garage has reshaped the urban fabric of the city and people are going there to get married, relax, and enjoy a cocktail.

ELEVEN ELEVEN is a Semifinalist in the $200,000 FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Competition.

SEEDocs : Making an impact in Peru

Re-building of the Maria Auxiliadora School from Happy Hearts Fund, SURA and Architecture for Humanity.

House of the Week 161: Casa Rosenda

 previous Tejaban made from disused roof materials

image sources

The house in Guadalupe, Mexico was rebuilt through 10x10 a social service programme, which provides decent housing for the poor, by reusing waste materials to create high quality structures. The client, Rosenda lived in a 30m² foil Tejaban with her two daughters and three grandchildren, was redesigned by local architectural practice Covachita. The design features a 3 story tower accessible from the street with outdoor service and family areas to the rear of the tiny site.

blog wunderlust: 28th January 2013

We will never solve the housing problems of Africa if architects do not shift their concerns to the development of locally manufactured systems and materials that inform design and improve our way of life.

Joe Addo

image source

Architects apply high design to high tides | Is an Architect Entitled to Copyright Protection? | Architect Eduardo Souto de Mouro among Wolf Prize winners | The shipping container: now a 3-storey house | Five Facts on the Housing Construction Rebound | Learn Architect-Speak Online | Graffiti Church: Artist Hense Gives Place Of Worship A Wildly Colorful Makeover | Sketch + Draw + Model - The Coffee House

controversy: University of Minnesota Launches New Degree: High School to Licensed Architect in Seven Years

last word: Architect Brian Lewis (acla:works) has launched his architectural photography website, called Lumis Photography

Oyler House - Movie Villains

Oyler House - Movie Villains from Mike Dorsey on Vimeo.

Clip from the documentary "The Oyler House: Richard Neutra's Desert Retreat."

On the Boards: Interfaith Chapel

A proposed Interfaith Chapel at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL designed by architects Brooks + Scarpa and KZF Design. The dramatic gown like shape of the structure will be a created by employing a wooden lamella truss system in an egg-like pattern.

House of the Week 160: Jewell Box

photo credit: Gary Payne Photography

The Jewell Box in San Diego, California designed by Architects Magnus is composed of two buildings bridged by a two-story latticed verandah. The first building, located at the front of the site, is the main living space for the young family with the kitchen and bedrooms and affords views of the bay and distant foothills. The other building is at the rear yard and is a guesthouse with framed views to an existing tree.

blog wunderlust: 21st January 2013

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature

Frank Lloyd Wright

image source

Amazing Cliff Houses: Literally Living on the Edge | A Great Way to Break Ground | Glenn Murcutt Masterclass – First Hand Experience | The Stuart Hall Project | Fishing for Architecture with John Lurie | AJ 2013 Small Projects Award | Creative converted homes | Dutch architect to build ‘endless’ 3D printed house | Bristol's architect mayor wants the city to be a 'laboratory for change' | Mike Holmes: The blueprint on hiring an architect

controversy: London architect firm designs $1bn Iraqi parliament building after being named winner of international competition

last word: Atelier Vidal named the Dream Team, and the ones to watch in 2013 by the Jamaica Observer.

A Day with Zaha Hadid

Zaha Hadid discusses her current work with Michael Blackwood Productions taking the camera through her retrospective exhibition "Zaha Hadid has Arrived" at Vienna's MAK, a museum for design and contemporary art held in 2004.

blog wunderlust: 14th January 2013

Each material has its own potential and we seek the most eloquent expression of it

Paul Rudolph

Champion of livable architecture and pioneering critic Ada Louise Huxtable has died at 91 | Why green labels boost real estate values | 9 city building projects to watch for in 2013 | Eero Saarinen: Furniture for Everyman | Vietnam chooses an ‘architect of the year’ for the first time | Cyclorama building at Gettysburg will be demolished | An Unlikely Success Story For Modern Architecture, Mies, And Detroit

last word: The Rise Of Indie Architecture

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

The ABC of Architects

The ABC of Architects from fedelpeye on Vimeo.

This has gone viral, but it is too good not to share

On the Edge of Modernism

Richard Meier x Massimo Vignelli on Nowness.com.

Richard Meier and multi-disciplinary creator Massimo Vignelli reflect on their respective crafts, city life, their enduring friendship and their collaboration on a forthcoming architectural monograph on Meier in this film by Johnnie Shand Kydd.

On the Boards: Notre Dame de l’Assomption

images courtesy of Architecture for Humanity

The origami-like form of the proposed cathedral, Notre Dame de l’Assomption was inspired by traditional fishing boats common in Haiti, recalling the former cathedral’s role as a lighthouse. The competition hosted by the archdiocese of Port-au-Prince, invited architects worldwide to "discover the new Notre Dame" the proposal by Architecture for Humanity, led by architect Andrea Panizzo (YCF Group) embraces the spirit of the cathedral and outlines its footprint with a channel to collect water that leads to a Reflection Garden. More of this project via.

blog wunderlust: 7th January 2013

a utopia is neither a chimera nor an illusion but a forward thinking plan, a hopeful anticipation

Jorge Glusberg

(c) Kat Sark

Ruins of Modernity: The Failure of Revolutionary Architecture in the 20th Century | Zaha Hadid designs pirated by Chinese contractors, more here & here | The Future of the New York Public Library | 10 Breathtakingly Beautiful Art School Campuses | hip hop mogul Pharrell Williams to Collaborate with Zaha Hadid | Wanmokku by Japan-based Torafu Architects | Elegant work inspired generations | The Story of a Tilted Lawn and a Revisionist Ouroussoff

last word: Building the Pentimento House

A Prefab Vertical Gym For Urban Slums

Working with the community in Caracas, Venezuela, interdisciplinary studio Urban Think Tank designed a 4,000m² prefab vertical recreational centre to address local need for a safe place for sports and activities for limited sites. More via

On the Boards: National Museum of Afghanistan

(c) Matteo Cainer Architects

The new National Museum of Afghanistan was envisioned to safeguard the wealth of its cultural heritage and provide a symbol of the strength, pride and traditions of the Afghan people, providing visitors with a better understanding of the country. The façade of the proposal by Matteo Cainer architects, acts as a reflection of our society whilst the monolithic walls embody history and culture. More

Future Perfect

Future Perfect: The Midcentury Modern Paintings of Danny Heller, who paints Palm Springs architecture in near photorealistic form, explains the attraction.

Greening Sacred Spaces

Greening Sacred Spaces is a practical programme developed by Faith & the Common Good to assist faith communities with both the educational and spiritual dimensions of greening as well as the "how-to" side of audits, retrofits and generally reducing the faith community's footprint.

On the Boards: CNM Headquarters

A competition entry for the CNM/Municipality National Council in Brasilia, Brazil by Atelier UM+D (Utrabo Monteiro). The 5000 m² building is spread over 8 floors with 4 public areas above ground and 4 levels below for parking.

On the Boards: New Holland Island

The NHI is a new cultural centre for a 20 acre island bordered by two canals and a river in the heart of St Petersburg, Russia. Designed by architects WorkAC the cultural “city within the city” programmes public spaces for the visual and performing arts, new technologies, education, markets as well as a hotel. More here

House of the Week 159: Crabhill Modern

© Richard Leo Johnson

Located on a five-acre property in Hillsborough, North Carolina, the Crabhill house was designed and built by Tonic Design and their sister company Tonic Construction. Made of simple and inexpensive materials, the house revisions an agri-industrial aesthetic into a modern family home. The external layer of the house made of perforated Cor-Ten steel, peals away like shedding skin to create a barrier for sun and rain.

blog wunderlust: 31st December 2012

Space always intrigued me, with its incredibly rich possibilities, space alteration by (architectural) objects, objects' transformation in space (sculpture, design), movement in space and in time, their correlation, their repercussion on mankind, the relation between man and space, the object and time.

Ernő Rubik

We Make (NEW) Carpets | Can other cities emulate the success of New York’s High Line? | Working out of the Box: Airi Isoda, Architect-turned-Fashion Designer | railroad revival | Building Stories, Panel by Panel | Cathedral of Light: Bent Beams Create Illusory Arches | Frank Lloyd Wright’s Heart Island House | Coolhaus Ice Cream truck | Stunning Photographs of Vintage Parisian Architecture |

last word: Architects Alberto And Angelina celebrate a year after opening restaurant Casa B

Museum of Biodiversity

The 4,000m² Museum of Biodiversity situated on the mouth of the Panama Canal in Panama City is Frank Gehry's first project in Latin America. Exhibition coordinator, Darien Montañes, explains the work involved in bringing a project of this scale to life.

Android for Architects & Designers

With the introduction of Google's chromebook, a laptop device running their mobile Android operating system and manufactured by Samsung & Acer, we are seeing the possible rise of a third computer choice for architects and designers.

Already there are a number of apps created for mobile devices running Android, but now being extended to laptops and the support of Google's ever-increasing market and open source options, this offers a widening of the potential for AEC fields. Autodesk is aware of the market in Android mobile computing and has produced a number of apps for this emerging market including AutoCAD WS, 360 Mobile and Sketchbook Pro.

Here is a list of other useful apps:

Bimshare - described as the easiest way to share your building model online. This app, acquired by  Gehry Technologies in 2012, allows Architects and Engineers to share models, concepts and ideas with teams on BIM projects Your models display beautifully in your browser can view by story, show and hide individual parts of the building or view only parts of a certain type. Supports ifc files.

Redstick - This app allows users to measure buildings using anything from a tape measure to a bluetooth laser measuring device and accurately store that information in an electronic format. The files integrate with any cad software in either a 2D or 3D format and can any opened with any BIM/CAD application including ArchiCAD, REVIT, Microstation or Architect.

Smart Tools Pro is an all-in-one package of 15 apps including a rulers, levels, compasses, flashlights, protractors, etc. This collection of apps allows you to measure lengths, angles, distances, heights, directions and sounds with your phone. The app also allows you to add more tools as they become available.

Design Dimensions Pro - a reference tool for design professionals that features an extensive visual database with dimensions of commonly referenced items. The app allows users to navigate through hundreds of illustrated items to find the exact information you are looking for.

iConfirm - this project management app allows users to create change orders, disclaimers, timelines, memoranda and other documents remotely. Documents can be built, signed and saved to the application and distributed in PDF format.

blog wunderlust: 24th December 2012

I'll plan anything a man wants, from a cathedral to a chicken coop. That's the way I make my living

Henry Hobson Richardson

images (c) Miami Herald

Self-Help Housing: The Story of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board | Why The Starchitect? Foster Unveils Plans For New York Public Library | CityHome Transformer Apartment "Functions As An Apartment Three Times Its Size" | What did Oscar Niemeyer mean to you? | MyArchitects – David Baker + Partners | What does it take to build a livable home for under $100 per square foot? | 2012 in review - Top 10 projects

last word: Puerto Rican team wins design competition hosted by the University of Miami School of Architecture to rebuild Roman Catholic Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Parrish Art Museum

The 34,400-square-foot Parrish Museum in Eastern Long Island designed by architects Herzog & de Meuron

Centre for Urban Pedagogy

The Centre for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), winner of the 2012 Curry Stone Design Prize.

Jesolo Beach Houses

Richard Meier designed Jesolo Beach Houses

blog wunderlust: 17th December 2012

I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country....

Niemeyer

image (c) David Cuthbert

Architects pay tribute to Oscar Niemeyer | History of BIM | What Jane Jacobs Got Wrong About Urban Economies | 10 Techniques for Making Cities More Walkable | The Walkie-Talkie: battle of the bulge on Fenchurch Street | how to treat your architect | EyeTime 2012: Competition Winners Announced | Yale Celebrates Women in Architecture | Hadid Supreme - Zaha in the Glossies | Modern Architecture’s Golden Age, Captured By A Master Photographer

last word: Dominican architectural designer gets global accolade

blog wunderlust: 10th December 2012

It is important that the architect think not only of architecture but of how architecture can solve the problems of the world. The architect’s role is to fight for a better world, where he can produce an architecture that serves everyone and not just a group of privileged people.

Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho

Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer - who designed much of Brazil's capital - dies aged 104 | holographic trees and floating bridges | Rolex Arts Initiative Mentor Kazuyo Sejima Selects Yang Zhao as Architecture Protégé | Hashima island, the real-life island of Skyfall | Fashion ARCHetypes | The Affordable Housing Crisis | Why Diversity is Good Business in Architecture |

last word: Strength In Numbers - Design Wunderkind attributes success to teamwork

Shelter

The strategy conceived by Carter Williamson Architects was to devise both an 'ideal' and a 're-use' system that could operate interchangeably in all conditions. The shelter is based on a 2.4 metre unit system are designed to be pre-fabricated off-site and transported 'flat-packed' by road or rail either to remote communities or industrial locations.

On the Boards: Quintessence

The Quintessence centre for education and research in sustainability was designed by
architects Peter Galuzzi, Julian Evans and Marcelo D'Andrea. Designed as a collection of low impact and environmentally passive buildings to be built with local materials and incorporating techniques aimed at minimizing construction waste.

On the Boards : Sustainable Krajicek Playgrounds

The proposed scheme designed by BOARD (Bureau of Architecture, Research, and Design) received the second prize for the Richard Krajicek Foundation Playground competition. The proposal was conceived as a living space for the users with a design that connects to the existing social ideals of the community. It is proposed to be constructed of recycled materials and provides a communal garden, a sports court and interactive spaces for young children.

RIP Oscar Niemeyer

© Frank Camhi

It is with the deepest and sincerest regrets to inform my readers of the passing of noted Latin Modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer 1907 - 2012. The acclaimed and highly influential architect and political activist died of natural causes on the 6th December - 2 weeks short of his 105 birthday.

Oscar Niemeyer began his own practice, after a brief stint within the office of Lúcio Costa and Carlos Leão that stemmed collaborations with Le Corbusier. His architecture whilst in dozen of countries, and has come to define the essence and culture of Brazil and moreover the whimsical forms of Latin Modernism. His accomplished work of fluid and free-formed concrete sculpture spanned decades and in 1988 he was awarded with profession's highest honour, the Pritzker Prize.

Up until his last breath, there was no greater living architect than Oscar Niemeyer.

House of the Week 158: Arbour House

The Arbour House, is designed by Richard Kirk Architects and sits among a grove of fig trees along the Brisbane River, Australia. An old Poincianna tree dominates the site and the canopy of the roof and directional timbers used in the interior frames views towards it and the river beyond.

blog wunderlust: 3rd December 2012

Life deprived of beauty is not worthy of being called human

Luis Barragan

Architects smashing up their models | Rock Overhangs Integrated in Local Architecture: The Town Under Rocks in Spain | Pink Floyd Drummer awarded honourary architecture degree | Museum Tower is an "attack" on the Nasher Sculpture Center's garden, building and art | Is this a Bond villain’s underground lair? | Is the next generation of architects really ready to build? | ‘An architectural representation of God’s open-ended love’ |

new books: Long Island Modernism 1930–1980 by Caroline Rob Zaleski

last word: Grenada House of Parliament