Zaha in Lithuania

Katherine Mangiardi

I learned of the work of New York artist Katherine Mangiardi from the Merchant’s House Museum of all places. So appropriate. Mangiardi’s paintings of lace are unbelievably haunting, like the delicate, filmy fabric of a ghost, or like the painfully decaying lace of an antique dress. I also found her fabric installations at various historic museums around the East Coast rather beautiful. I find the idea of being able to set up an installation in a historic house pretty intriguing. Read more

Cornwell’s Museum of Witchcraft

Cornwall, England is considered a great weekend getaway for the over-worked under-played Londonite. So much to do! Hiking, horseback riding, castle touring, country pubbing, garden tours and my favourite, surfing! For those of you who find these past-times a bit prosaic and cliched, this little Cornish beach town is also home to the Museum of Witchcraft where the Richel Collection is on exhibit, the world’s best collection of ritual and sex magic artifacts. Dutch collector Bob Richel inherited the collection from his father-in-law, Mr Eldermans, who had been a Magister of the Ars Amatoria, a group using sex magic. Now, there is a dowry I’ve yet to hear of! It gives a whole new meaning to the The Red Hot Chili Peppers song Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic.

Paul Paper’s photography

I love the sense of clarity amidst the muted tones of Lithuanian photographer Paul Paper’s work. Paper lives in ‘a small, strange city of Vilnius, where he daydreams, sleeps, walks, eats, and sometimes takes pictures. Sometimes in winters he can be found in bed reading books about old travelers. People, nature and creativity are three main things that inspires him’. Read more

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