December 9, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
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!
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November 20, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
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.
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November 18, 2008 | New Design | by Snell |
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
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November 7, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell 
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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.
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November 5, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
An egg is the symbol of birth, life and imminent development, and it has been used here as the basis to create a revolutionary Indian office environment. Located in the burgeoning and rapidly changing Mumbai, this egg achieves much with an intelligent water filtration system, a renewable power system of photovoltaic’s and wind turbines, and a health system in the bathrooms to track user’s blood pressure and weight. Designed by James Law Cybertecture International, they claim that the shape is even sustainable as it reduces building surface area, therefore reducing temperature loss-gain. We will see a lot more of this in India.
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November 3, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
This organic form, revealing itself from the sprawling metropolis of Barcelona via the marauding eye of Google, is the Santa Caterina Market. Designed by the late architect Enric Miralles it has a floating ceramic roof that drapes the bustling market below in a parental way. The coloured ceramics, of course, represent the smorgasbord of fruit and vegetables on sale within and enable a majestic view, not only for Google, but also to its immediate neighbours overlooking the site.
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November 3, 2008 | New Trends | 
by Snell |
This is a preview from the game The Unfinished Swan, created by Ian Dallas and due to be released next year. The game is set in an all white world and features a maze that you find your way through by shooting paint balls to reveal your 3D environment. We highly recommend you check out the tech demo above, as that’s what really gets you in. We can’t help but be excited by this premise of discovery in the white noise of our architectural environments. Thanks to fellow architect Marcus Trimble, from whom we found this lead.
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September 30, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
Located on a mountain in country outside Mudgee, in New South Wales, Australia, a permanent camp designed by Casey Brown has been set. A timber structure clad in copper has been designed to have a closed state and an open state. From the closed position, the flanks of copper are hoisted and capture views across the valley. With an imagery of structures, materials and mechanics of old, there is something romantic about this foothold on the hill.
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September 9, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
Herzog and de Meuron, the Swiss architects, have led the way with this re-use of the existing building fabric of CaixaForum in Madrid. Rather than being slavish to the existing openings, the building has been cut away for a contemporary practicality. We think this is an example of heritage not getting in the way of progress. Check out a similar concept of a previous post re-using the city fabric, where we were dreaming of such thing.
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September 7, 2008 | New Eco | by Snell |
Rainwater tanks are here to stay. Not only is the general populace turning to them as the realization sinks in that water is a scarce resource, but they are also being legislated by government at all levels. The unfortunate problem is that the vast majority are not the most attractive additions to the built environment, particularly the latest round of polypropylene models, which are mostly big beige blobs. Read more
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September 3, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
Here’s another commercial building, and no doubt a nice one too. But just another commercial building. Yet there is something different here and it’s in the materials used. The cladding is a fibre-reinforced polymer, or a FRP, and has a finish similar to that of a car. Read more
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September 2, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
We have reported on Danish firm, JDS Architects, before. And here their memorable work continues. This glorious design for the Holmenkollen Ski Jump in Oslo is the result of an international competition and is to be completed in time for the 2011 World Championships. Read more
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August 11, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
Formed in New York and now based in Rotterdam and Berlin, SMAQ is a collaborative studio for architecture and urbanism by architects Sabine Müller and Andreas Quednau. Here they have created an interesting installation called Bad (bath) in the Solitude Palace Gardens in Stuttgart with the premise of creating a usable sculpture which entwines a 1000 metre long garden hose throughout a timber structure. Read more
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July 22, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
Created by Danish based research team, CITA, Slow Furl is a cybernetic environment that fills a room. CITA conceived this project as an organism with its own patterns of action and reaction. A skin envelopes the space and moves itself through arms connected to micro-controllers, and in reaction through sensory patches that feel movement. The skin unifies these two energies, producing unexpected and mysterious movement. It has just finished exhibiting at Lighthouse in Brighton and we are sorry we missed it.
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July 16, 2008 | New & Cool Architecture | by Snell |
We came across this building a while ago by French architects EDCM, but as information at the time was only in French, it was all a bit tough – just like this building. Read more
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There’s such a heartfelt, spontaneous quality to the work of UK artist Cornelia O’Donovan. Everything she creates is so wonderfully raw and honest that just looking at her work, you get the feeling that she is an old friend you’ve known intimately for years. I’m literally swooning over everything on her website, from the stuffed dogs and cats, to her silkscreens, to her lovely collages. Read more
Casio Keyboard Brooklyn trio Au Revoir Simone are about to release a collection of remixes and covers their musical friends have recorded of songs found on their second album, The Bird Of Music. Titled Reverse Migration, the record features re-workings by Best Fwends, Teenagers, Darkel, and more. We caught up with them recently. Why and when did you decide to release a remix album? Annie: ‘Our friends were making so many wonderful versions of our songs we wanted to share them with the world’. How did you select the artists? Annie: ‘Mostly they were friends who told us they wanted to do remixes! Very fun and easy’. Reverse Migration is out November 11 through the band’s own label, Our Secret Record Company. Listen to Ruff & Jam by Au Revoir Simone.
Andrea Innocent’s work is heavily influenced by Japanese art and culture. Themes range from investigations into the cult of Otaku, to traditional Japanese folk tales and textiles. Read more
Summertime at McCarren Park in Williamsburg is picturesque. It’s often filled with a mix of people, old and young, picnicking or sitting in the shade, running along the track or playing soccer (or football, depending on where you’re from). It’s also connected to a now defunct McCarren (swimming) pool which transforms into an outdoor concert space on Sundays during the summer. In the past, performers such as Leslie Feist, M.I.A., The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Broken Social Scene have performed. Read more
How old must Kermit be now? Not to old to collaborate with skater-friendly retailer Supreme and photographer Terry Richardson. Kermit, who usually wears nothing, has been hooked up with some new threads to advertise the brand. It seems Kermit and Terry are the perfect work partners: they’ve even released a video clip documenting the shoot.
Love it or loathe it, you’ve got to admit that the ruffled blouses and strict pencil skirts on television series Gossip Girl give you a guilt-free reason to watch. 25-year-old former model Abigail Lorick was approached to ghost design the Eleanor Waldorf Collection by using her budding real life label Loricklady. The press surrounding the show has boosted her profile and her new collection featuring all the Upper East Side trimmings is greatly anticipated.
Springfield Punx is a great blog that features renderings of what your favorite comic book, cartoon, and movie characters (and a few late-night talk-show hosts thrown in for good measure) would look like as characters on the Simpsons.
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With the recession still biting, it may be time to whip out the glue and the cardboard and make your next pair of cool kicks. Don’t know how they’d manage in the rain though? Read more
Trip out with Sparrow Vs Sparrow’s retro illustrations, I love their aesthetic, color use and sense of humor. Read more
Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
Our celebrity-saturated culture makes many of us irrationally hateful of the faces we see on our TV screens and magazine pages. Good thing there’s Celebrity PunchOut to let off some of that steam.
Wolfmother. Rock n roll. Mystical lyrics. Heavy riffs. They have a new album out, Cosmic Egg, and we have five copies to giveaway, along with their debut album. To enter, tell us your favorite Wolfmother song and the city you live in. Yo! Two fingered salute. Read more
Fragile Vases is a new collection of vases made from recycled materials by Itunube. All parts have been carefully selected and put together, so each vase is totally unique. So now it’s possible to give a second chance to old pieces instead of throwing them into the trash. We have a selection of these vases for sale in the Lost At E Minor store for just US$85. Read more
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