Zeppelin Return

France regulates photoshopped images

The big media news of the past few days has been the proposal by fifty French lawmakers that would require all altered images be labeled with a disclaimer that they have been digitally enhanced. Read more

Château d’Estoublon’s olive oil

It was the haute couture perfume-like bottles that first sparked my interest in Château d’Estoublon’s scrumptious olive oils. So on a recent trip to Provence in the South of France where the Estoublon estate has its roots, quite literally, a quick stop for a tasting was on the agenda. Set on a massive 48 acres, replete with vineyards, olive groves, gardens, a pond, and of course, a massive château, the space is inspiring, as are its products. Read more

Lycee Jean Moulin’s green roofs by Off Architecture

Paris-based design firm Off Architecture, in collaboration with Duncan Lewis Scape Architecture and Jeans Gincinto, is granting a gift for current and future students of the Lycee Jean Moulin in Revin, France. The Lycee, which will be completed sometime in 2012, is being constructed to sustainable standards, including being built with the flow of the hillside where it resides. The school’s blueprint is a single-floor construction with terraced floors moving up the hill. The roofs of each building is made to resembling the rolling landscape and is flooded with vegetation so that by air, the school nearly disappears. In what promises to be the first of many sustainable lycees in France, the bar is set extremely high.

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