BNKR

© Esteban Suarez

“Acapulco’s hills are made up of huge granite rocks piled on top of each other. In a purely mimetic endeavor, we worked hard to make the chapel look like “just another” colossal boulder atop the mountain.”

via bunkerarquitectura
via arcspace

Soundtrack: Lila Downs - La Cama de Piedra

Chiswick Cafe

photo:  Richard Bryant

The cafe has a stone colonnade across its main elevations, terminating in a portico-like front. Its elevation recalls the arcaded facades of the stable wings of country villas in the Veneto...

more via carusostjohn

Soundtrack: Part Chimp - New Cross

Las Anacuas

"On one hand we want to frame and give rhythm (more than control) to the spontaneous construction so as to avoid deterioration of the urban environment over time, and also make the process of expansions for each family easier." 

via elementalchile
via plataformaarquitectura
via googlemaps

Soundtrack: Calle 13 - Latinoamérica

Mies & Bacardi

Bacardi president Jose “Pepín” Bosch hired Mies to design buildings for the Company’s headquarters in Santiago de Cuba and its Mexican operations in Tultitlán.

Bosch conveyed his vision for an “office without walls.” In his words, Bosch wanted an office “where there were no partitions, where everybody, both officers and employees, could see each other.”

via bacardilimited
via whc.unesco

Soundtrack: Einstürzende Neubauten - The Garden

Luis Barragan

‘La función de la arquitectura debe resolver el problema material sin olvidarse de las necesidades espirituales del hombre .’

via barragan-foundation

via plataformaarquitectura casa barragan
via plataformaarquitectura casa gilardi

Soundtrack: Murcof - Rostro

Mauricio Rocha

Teatro Mariano Matamoros in Morelia, Michoacán

Rocha has constructed an underground theatre formed out of cubes. Instead of designing into space, Rocha decided to take things inwards. 

via plataformaarquitectura
via tallerdearquitectura
via vimeo

Alberto Kalach

Alberto Kalach conceptualized the library as an “Ark of Knowledge” and named it after the Mexican philosopher and politician José Vasconcelos.

Jonás,

¿En dónde han quedado las hojas, los troncos y las ramas?
Jonás respondió: Están suspendidas en el tiempo, como el esqueleto de una ballena.

via kalach
via bibliotecavasconcelos

Peter Rich

"We need to regain lost ground..."

The Mapungubwe National Park celebrates the site of an ancient trading civilization in the context of a natural setting. The complex landscape was both the inspiration for the design and the source of the materials for the construction of the new Interpretation Centre, resulting in a composition of structures that are authentically rooted to their location.

via peterricharchitects

via architektureZA 

Soundtrack: Scott Kelly in Točník 2010

Ruta del Peregrino

foto Iwan Baan

Approximately 2 million people participate each year in this religious phenomenon coming from different states of Mexico to walk through the mountain range of Jalisco, starting in the town of Ameca, ascending to el Cerro del Obispo at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level, crossing the peak of Espinazo del Diablo to descend to it's final destination in the town of Talpa de Allende to meet with the Virgin of Talpa as an act of devotion, faith and gratitude. 

via rutadelperegrino

via perifericaarquitectura
via designboom
via dellekamparq
via elemental
via luisaldrete
via hhf

more photos via iwan baan

Ice Cube & The Eames

Before I did rap music, I studied architectural drafting. And one thing I've learned, is that - you always gotta have a plan...

via pacificstandardtime

Ai Weiwei VI

The Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry team is proud to announce the film will make its World Premiere in January at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival! Just in time for Chinese New Year!

via guardian
via aiweiweifilm

Soundtrack: Mark Lanegan - Man in the Long Black Coat

Akkarvik Restroom

The restroom is built on an existing rest area where the old toilet facility had been lifted off it's footing by strong winds, hence the new structure needed to be solid and durable.

via mantheykula
via designboom

Soundtrack: Volkovoj - Helvete

Drone in the heart of the mountains. Volume up!

Erwin Heerich

Museum Island Hombroich

Heerich´s structures are autonomous buildings which developed out of sculptures. Their uncompromising geometry reveals a rich spatial play of forces and allows a dynamic dialog between art, architecture and nature.

via inselhombroich

video archiv via vimeo

Hans van der Laan

"The elements of the house can be derived only from nature. The primary datum of the wall-separated space is the unlimited mass of the earth with the limitless space above it. So the limited mass of the walls must also be drawn from the earth in order to withdraw a limited piece of space from the space of nature."

Architectonic Space via googlebooks
vanderlaanstichting
domhansvanderlaan
video via vimeo

Project Japan

Project Japan, Metabolism Talks...

Between 2005 and 2011, architect Rem Koolhaas and curator Hans Ulrich Obrist interviewed the surviving members of Metabolism. The result is a vivid documentary of the last moment when architecture was a public rather than a private affair.

via metalocus

via taschen

Rem Koolhaas´ lecture at the Barbican Centre via vimeo

Seljord Monster

The myth about a sea serpent in the lake of Seljord has become a point of departure for a development programme for the area. The brief was to provide a viewing platform for the monster... 

via rintalaeggertsson
via wallpaper

Rintala´s lecture Marginal Qualities in a Terminal Culture

via vimeo

Ken Niizeki

More than 7000 blocks of concrete were utilized to create a highly textured finish to the elevations while providing a solid aesthetic to the house.

via niizekistudio
via designboom

Soundtrack: Boris - Heavy Friends

Jiakun Liu

foto Iwan Baan

via jiakun architects

Liu Jiakun, principal architect of Jiakun Architects discusses how the historical legacy of chinese architecture can be applied to contemporary building practices.

video via designboom

Ai Weiwei V

An independent documentary film about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Directed by Alison Klayman

via aiweiweifilm

CNN talks with the maker of the upcoming documentary "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry"

Chipperfield Lecture

Lecture by David Chipperfield in The Harvard Graduate School of Design, 15.11.2011

Architecture struggles to find an identity in the society impatient for the new, where the virtual seems real and where the notions of permanence seem to contradict the spirit of time...

Wang Yun

Descrete Plot, Xixi Wetlands 2011

Since the 1990s, Wang Yun has conducted a large number of surveys and carried out research into settlements around the world. He set up his office Atelier Fronti in 2001 and has designed a number of buildings of great influence in recent years.

via designboom
via atelier fronti

Atelier Schilders

Steven Vandenborre is interested in the basic forms of buildings. The result calls a Gestalt, which he defines as a German term for a very simple but strong volume.

via mark 34
via allaertaluminium
via steven vandenborre

Soundtrack: dEUS - The Architect

Lebbeus Woods

"Architecture and war are not incompatible. Architecture is war. War is architecture. I am at war with my time, with history, with all authority that resides in fixed and frightened forms."

via lebbeuswoods

via cooper union
via egs

Soundtrack: Nadja - I Am As Earth

Ai Weiwei IV

Chinese artist says he is under investigation for spreading pornography, after pictures including One Tiger Eight Breasts. 

via guardian

Chinese netizens have begun stripping down to their birthday suits and posting their nude pictures on the internet after dissident-artist Ai Weiwei announced Friday that Beijing police were now investigating his assistant Zhao Zhao for "spreading pornography online".

via shanghaiist

Soundtrack: Nine Inch Nails - We´re In This Together

Copper House II

Thin copper sheet is used to make the structure waterproof from the rains, initially reflecting the landscape,and through the passage of time and seasons, patinas into a verdigris to be absorbed by the environment.

via studiomumbai

photos of Ariel Huber via photo.edit-bilder

Soundtrack: KC Loy - All Indians Arise

Hunsett Mill

An extension to a 19th century mill keeper’s house in the Broads. The house is adjacent to the well-known historic grade 2 listed Hunsett Mill. The house was the residence for the keeper of the mill until 1900, when electricity made wind-powered pumps redundant.

via acme
house webside via hunsettmill

Casa 712

triangular geometry minimizes the distribution spaces, reduces the cost and allows a constant and homogeneous relation between inside and outside.

via harquitectes

construction photos via flickr

Soundtrack: Centella - El Hervor

Zumthor Exposed

Laban Centre, London, competition 1997

more via zumthor

Soundtrack: Hungry Ghosts - Peak

U-40

Vincent Hecht presents 'U-40 Japanese Architects', documentary about young Japanese architects such as Junya Ishigami, Hideyuki Nakayama, Akihisa Hirata, Sou Fujimoto.

video via under40japanesearchitects

Slinky Bridge

Tobias Rehberger: "My idea of a spiral was inspired by the Slinky, the toy developed in the 1940s. Right from the start the two main elements were a black spiral and a colourful band for walking on that went through the spiral. We tried to make the spiral itself structural..."

video via domusweb

Soundtrack: Lali Puna - Move On

Ai Weiwei III

Thousands of people have donated money to pay a massive tax bill served on Chinese artist Ai Weiwei.

"People threw money as a paper aeroplanes, or transferred money into my account"

One reader, from Guangzhou, told the BBC he had sent money because it was a "rare opportunity to support what I believe".

via bbc

Soundtrack: Komunisti - První den roku nula ( Balaclava cover)

Sukkah

This video project is a portrait of an ephemeral city that appears within the ‘permanent’ city... Every fall, the neighborhood undertakes a drastic transformation. In order to commemorate the Exodus, a temporary dwelling structure, known as Sukkah, must be built outside the house and inhabited for seven days.

via franciscabenitez

Kumiko Inui

Located in Takasaki Gunma, 'small house h' is a private residence constructed out of concrete and wood, features a square plan subdivided into four triangular rooms.

via inuiuni

Soundtrack: Zeni Geva - Implosion

Urbanized

Urbanized is Gary Hustwit’s documentary about the design of cities, which looks at the issues and strategies behind urban design and features some of the world’s foremost architects, planners, policymakers, builders, and thinkers. With music of El Ten Eleven.

via urbanizedfilm

Soundtrack: El Ten Eleven - Hot Cakes

Architecture of Fear

Architecture of Fear explores how feelings of fear pervade daily life in the contemporary media society.

via z33

Spoken Word: Henry Rollins 

Shibaura House

Kazuyo Sejima & Associates

Shibaura House is a unique and diverse workshop space located in a business district. Every one can participate in discussions and workshops of diverse theme such as business, social problem, art and design, even life style.

via japan-architect

via shibaurahouse

Soundtrack: Mono - The Sky Remains the Same As Ever

Brockholes

The buildings and open spaces form a village-like cluster, floating on a large pontoon. As well as giving unlimited flood protection, this brings the visitor into the magical territory amongst the reeds at the water’s edge.

via adam khan architects

via brockholes

Soundtrack: PJ Harvey - Hanging In The Wire

Ai Weiwei II

Ai Weiwei, detained by authorities for almost three months this spring, has said officials have ordered him to pay £1.5m in tax.

"It's a game they play all the time … They needed an excuse to take me away for 81 days."

via guardian

Soundtrack: Zeni Geva + Steve Albini = Painwise

Atelier Tenjinyama

Primitive building was born to prevent rain and wind. This building is made by only four pieces of walls and roof. This primitive constitution showed the possibility "a person is able to get along somehow". But in fact, in this building, it is filled with joy, presence of mind, and discovery.

via ikimono architects

Soundtrack: Boris - A Bao A Qu

Barrocals

The Pawson House

Each architect involved has taken their own distinctive design approach, but are united by a desire to preserve and augment – rather than disturb or tame – the rugged beauty and rich history of the Barrocal Estate.

via barrocal


A film by Graham Clayton-Chance:

META project

© META: Pezo von Ellrichshausen

Ten international architects will come together to collaborate for the 'META' project, an initiative to create a series of pavilions to be located within communities along the coast of chile as a response to the country's devastating earthquake.

via designboom

Soundtrack: Oneida - Each One, Teach One

Hamra

The brief came out of the very limited budget: a house as simple as possible. Equally simple as the barn we wanted to convert to a summer dwelling, but which never showed up on the market: one open space with a large number of possible beds, cooking in the middle...

via dinelljohansson

Soundtrack: Music for One Apartment and Six Drummers

Zombie Save House

In the end who will save mankind from the Zombie Apocalypse? It is our belief that artists, designers, and architects will need to weigh in heavily to provide Safe Houses that can stand an assault on civilization.

via zombiesafehouse

Soundtrack: Deathcrash

Continuous

film&sound by Adriene Hughes

Continuity and acceleration are two mathematical concepts that relate the dancing body to space. This film unpacks the sensation of acceleration embedded in limits taken in the act of determining the continuous nature of movement.

via adrienehughes

Torre Squat

Photo: Iwan Baan

“It doesn’t look good, but it has the seed of a very interesting dream of how to organize life,” says Alfredo Brillembourg, an architect and relative of the man who launched the construction.

“Compared to housing in many other neighborhoods, we have a pretty good quality of life,” says Gladys Flores, the secretary of the residents’ cooperative. “But we still need elevators.”

via nymag

Soundtrack: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - The Dead Flag Blues

Arkrafts

© Jesús Abrego


via plataformaarquitectura
via arkrafts

Soundtrack: Ave Lira 

The Power 100

Ai has promoted the notion that art’s real context is not simply ‘the market’ or ‘the institution’, but what’s happening now, around us, in the real world. 


via artreview100


Soundtrack: Unsane - Against the Grain

Skulpturenpark

Sou Fujimoto’s first architectural structure in Europe.

From inside the structure, new sight lines open up and views of the park from its windows appear like framed landscapes, while, on the other hand, the visitor is lured into its enclosure...

via skulpturenparkkoeln

Soundtrack: World´s End Girlfriend - Osoi Hito

Junya Ishigami

 

Changing scales means changing the atmosphere - scale and proportion can make a space...

Lecture in Strelka via vimeo

Soundtrack: Esmerine - Why She Swallows Bullets and Stones

silver-rocket