Danish Building Bridge

New video from Danish lo-fi-pop band Joe and Honey

Copenhagen band Joe and Honey released the Heart Beast EP in January. As a follow up, they now premier the music video Fever. Filmed in a Copenhagen apartment, the video portrays a universe of sensual needs and supressed identities.

Outdoor seating at Cafe Mandela by JACKIE-B

Here’s some pretty cool outdoor seating designed by JACKIE-B design studio for Cafe Mandela in Copenhagen that encourage diners to interact and de-segregate from each other. Read more

Tom Fruin’s Glass House in Copenhagen

New York-artist Tom Fruin shows us how one man’s trash can become one city’s treasure. His latest creation, the Kolonihavehus, is situated in the plaza of the Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen. Throwing back to the 19th century Danish tradition of Kolonihave — ‘little house with garden’ — Fruin’s sculpture is made from a thousand reclaimed pieces of plexiglass found in dumpsters around the city. 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.

Hamburg’s music and glass ice sculpture

Since the beginning, architects have been faced by the challenge of housing the ever unpinnable idea of music. The challenge here is the Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, Germany. Basel-based architects, Herzog and de Meuron have created an ephemeral glass tent-like structure perched on top of an existing heavy modernist abandoned warehouse. The warehouse will be composed mainly of parking and back of house, while the glass structure incorporates concert halls, restaurants, bars, apartments and a luxury hotel. Clearly, this is a tremendously exciting alteration and addition to an existing site and building, with this new ice sculpture reflecting the surrounding changing environment and the soaring notes within. Completion is scheduled for 2010.