Eco gas station

The Museum of Jurassic Technology, Los Angeles

At this unique privately owned museum in Los Angeles, one has to walk through a maze of corridors within the softly lit exhibits where you are introduced to an alternative history that you would not read in history books. Read more

Plumed Serpent: unique head-dresses by Daniella White

Daniella White is the designer of Plumed Serpent, extravagant headdresses that she hand makes herself in Los Angeles. Each headdress is a magical blend of feathers, recycled furs, vintage jewels and gems, fine fabrics and chains. You truly become a goddess, a queen or whatever your heart desires when you wear her pieces. Where do you wear them? I like to walk around the house in my bathrobe with my fancy Plumed Serpent pieces. Yes, I collect them and I feel fabulous. Read more

The second annual Ellen Art Show

With over 60 artists participating this year, The Ellen Art Show is a charity event featuring portraits of popular talkshow host and activist, Ellen DeGeneres. The profits for the show are donated to the Trevor Project, which is ‘determined to end suicide among LGBTQ youth by providing life-saving and life-affirming resources and advocacy/educational programs that create a safe, supportive and positive environment for everyone’. The Ellen Art Show, the brainchild of spoken word artist Renda Writerr, will take place at The Terrell Moore Gallery in Los Angeles on January 28 (DeGeneres’s birthday).

Floating House

This house has many facets that make it an intriguing example. First of all, it is a very aesthetically pleasing project with the use of light horizontal timbers and a clean pitched roof. Designed by MOS, an interesting design collective based in America, the secret to the Floating House is that it floats on a structure of steel pontoons. The house rises and falls with the changing waters and is frozen in place depending on the season. The steel pontoons were constructed first and towed to the lake outside the contractor’s factory and then the house was built atop of it. When finished it was towed to its position, anchored and enjoyed in its unique position. Finally, it forms a bridge between the land and an island. Wonderful!

Torre Bicentenario

Dutch uber-firm OMA, headed by Rem Koolhaas, has created this concept in Mexico City to symbolize the coming two hundred years of Mexico’s independence. There are many layers of symbolism in this building, from Mayan pyramids to which part of the building controls the park and which part controls the city, to the fact that the bulge of the building is below the centre height, and that it all happens on a relatively small footprint. Most of all, in this building there is a barely contained energy that seems near to release and it may be that this is what Torre Bicentenario represents.

Danish Building Bridge

The Danes are renowned for their considered and subtle design. However, in these times of change, they must feel they need something with this selection of a bridge building as the winner of a recent architectural competition in Denmark. The American architect Steven Holl designed this building with a pedestrian bridge that links two sides of the harbour in the distinctly low-rise Copenhagen. Read more