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This is a real house in Portugal called Casa do Penedo, which means “house of stone.” Built in 1974, the current resident had to reinforce the house with security doors and window bars because of the many visitors and occasional vandals. Casa do Penedo is just one of a list of Ten Strange Places Where People Live, some of which may induce vertigo. Link -via J-Walk Blog
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On a hill called Teufelsberg (Devil’s Mountain) near Berlin, an abandoned facility complete with “radar domes” stands. It was once used as a listening station for the US to intercept Soviet communications, and then abandoned when West and East Berlin were reunited. It was built over top the remains of a Nazi war college. Exploring this station is difficult, as it is deteriorating. One of the dangers is an open 10-story elevator shaft! See a set of pictures at Environmental Graffiti. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Nate Bolt)
It’s hard to believe that people once thought we’d all be living in domes by the year 2000, but this delightful retro article from Popular Science confirms that the future is a lot squarer than people in the 60s and 70s thought it would be. The geodesic dome was the brainchild of R. Buckminster Fuller, who felt that the simplicity of design and ease with which it could be built would catch on like wildfire across the country, and claimed rather ambitiously that it could replace all manner of traditional housing. However, Fuller hadn’t taken the cost of repairs into consideration, nor the problems that would be encountered bringing the dome up to code, and the awkward shape of the panels made replacing them a real pain, so the geodesic dome fad fell along the wayside, becoming nothing more than a vision of the future that was never meant to be. If you want to read more about the “dome of the future”, follow the link to PopSci, where you’ll find lots more info, and pages from past Popular Science articles detailing the rise and fall of the housing dome fad.
When George Bernard Shaw began designing his ideal writing hut, he decided to construct it on top of a rotating Lazy Susan. It was drawn as a simple 8′x8′ square with two large windows on one side for lighting and heat. With ascetic efficiency, the building’s windows could be turned towards the sun during the winter–allowing solar energy to warm up the room–and turned away for the summer. I would’ve guessed that the hut was built within moderate climate if it wasn’t for the fact that “it has a sloping roof to shed rain and snow build up.”
Not only was he a literary visionary, but a clever engineer. (One might even say that he Shaw solutions…)
Link via Home Design Find
Dietrich Wegner made this 20-foot tall children’s playhouse out of polyfill, rope, wood, and steel. It’s entitled Homeland and is a convincing imitation of a nuclear detonation. Remember: your kids are never too young to start learning post-nuclear apocalypse survival skills. Link -via reddit | Photo: Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery
Photo Credit: Alexander Belenkiy
One of my favorite things is to come across abandoned buildings and do a little exploring–legally of course. If you like abandoned buildings, then English Russia has a good deal of items for you to peruse, from elaborate and abandoned houses in the Tagia to planetariums–this one in particular is being demolished–the last wooden planetarium in existence. It’s located in the city park of Penza, Russia and actually has some pretty nifty stuff in it, along with some pretty… um, shall we say interesting dioramas, plenty of cosmonaut history, and lots and lots of propaganda about Pluto being a planet and all (so last decade). Not somewhere I’d take the kiddies on a field trip, but interesting to rifle through.
As we previously covered Saudi Arabia has been planning the construction of the world’s tallest building on the out Now those plans have moved into the actual construction phase. The Kingdom Tower when completed will be two thirds of a mile tall at 3,280 feet and feature top of the line hotels, condominiums and premium office space. The whole project is in an effort to boost the Saudi’s economy.
If you want a really roomy place, you can live in a 90-square foot apartment. But Luke Clark Tyler, an architect in Manhattan, figured that he could do just fine with a cozier place. His apartment, which includes furniture that he designed and built for it, is only 78 square feet in floor space. Tyler has a murphy bed, a couch, a microwave, a refrigerator, and a closet.
Did I mention that Tyler works from home? That tiny space is also his office. -via Doobybrain
Abandoned places can be creepy. Morgues are always creepy to most people. Put them together, and you’ve got some really creepy places -and even more so when you know their history. Environmental Graffiti has a photo collection of abandoned morgues in hospitals, asylums, municipalities, military bases, and even this one from Ellis Island. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user Vilseskogen)
In 1975, Marcia Weber bought a caboose made in 1909. Over the past thirty-six years, she’s gradually turned it into a functional home with indoor heating and plumbing. There are beds, a full kitchen, and even a washer and dryer. See more photos of this amazing home conversion at the link. Link -via Craft | Photo: Marcia Weber
Castles on cliffs are the stuff of fairytales. And sure, it was a security measure, building the kingdom’s stronghold in the least accessible location, but that doesn’t make these seven beautiful castles located on cliffs any less impressive or fairytale-like. The one above is Alcazar in Segovia, Spain, built in the 12th century and now open to tourists year round and home to the Spanish General Military Archives. Link
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You may not be able to get (the impossibly proportioned) Barbie figure, but you can one day live in the house of little b.... londe that has everything.
The American Institute of Architects is holding a design competition where architects and designers are invited to submit their designs of the Barbie Dream House: Link
What kind of a house would you build for a pro skateboarder? A skateable one, of course!
Here's what Los Angeles-based architect Francois Perrin and designer Gil Lebon Delapointe did for Pierre Andre Senizergues, a former world skateboard champion:
The house is divided into three separate spaces. The first one includes the living room, dining area and kitchen, the second one includes a bedroom and bathroom and the third one a skateboard practice area. Each space is skateable as the ground becomes the wall then the ceiling in a continuous surface forming a tube of a 10ft diameter.
The furniture is also skateable, whether it is integrated in the curve like the sitting area, the kitchen or the bathroom or just as standing object like the dining table, the kitchen Island or the bed. Closets and drawers could be integrated in the curve too.
The PAS house is the first house to be entirely used for skateboarding as well as being a traditional dwelling. It is the ultimate dream for generations of skateboarders who wanted to bring their practice into their home.
Link - via The Awesomer
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The River Fleet in London is a tidal river that once provided water for many industries. Over the years, it became quite polluted, then was consigned to flow underneath the city as London grew, until it was eventually incorporated into the sewer system. But the river is still there, filling its tunnels at high tide and ebbing to a trickle at low tide. Read about what happened to the River Fleet and see plenty of pictures at Kuriositas. Link
(Image credit: Flickr user sub-urban.com)
While the Sistine Chapel is gorgeous, it’s not the only notable ceiling in the world. WebUrbanist has a great collection of stunning modern ceilings for your viewing pleasure.
This Japanese language video shows a house that is only 67 inches wide, yet is quite comfortable and equipped. The kitchen is tiny, but it has a full-size bath and one of those super high-tech toilets. It’s two stories tall and features a lovely skylight with rooftop access. -via Doobybrain
Home Designing recently featured an incredible new vacation home by architect Victor Canas. The 4,500 square foot home was designed for a young couple and their son. The home is unique in the fact it has pools on both the inside and the outside of the home, including one that serves as the stair landing on the bottom floor. This was the most beautiful house I have ever seen, I was absolutely gob smacked by it. Link
Just one of Victor Enrich’s mind-blowing 3D illustrations and visualizations. Beginning at the age of ten, the artist focused on unreal city scapes down to the last detail including bus stops and subway lines. Today, he specializes in making the ordinary surreal. He has a wide body of work that can be seen at Arch Daily. Notice that the building has a McDonald’s on the ground floor. Link
(Image credit: © Víctor Enrich)
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When I was a youngster, I thought firefighters were the coolest people alive…not because they were heroes, but because they got to slide down a pole to go to work. These days, while I respect the heck out of firefighters (anyone who lives in Southern California knows just how important they are), I have to say the people who own this house filled with slides might just be the coolest people on earth.
How do you turn a small space into a huge cash cow? Fill it with the most claustrophobic living quarters imaginable, call its lack of width a feature, then rent it out to artists as a living/workspace. That’s just what architect Jakub Szczesny and team are doing with the skinny space between an old tenement block and a tower block in Warsaw, Poland. The design allows for a bedroom, lounge, bathroom and kitchen within the tiny space, all accessible by ladder. Read more about to Warsaw design and other skinny houses on Daily Mail. Link
via Dvice
Randy Hage is a Los Angeles-based artist on a mission to preserve the crumbling storefronts of Manhattan–one 1/12-scale miniature at a time. The project started when Hage noticed the generic and mass-produced logos of chain stores and restaurants shoving the small, worn shopfronts right out of the city. “My goal is to document and bring greater attention to those disappearing storefronts,” he said. There are more examples of Hage’s awesome miniatures in the capsule he curated for How to Be a Retronaut. Link
Ludwig II of Bavaria died under mysterious circumstances 125 years ago. The death was ruled a suicide, but many don’t buy that explanation.
Today, Ludwig remains famous for the castles he built and attempted to build, most notably Neuschwanstein Castle, perched high in the Alpine foothills. The king was a romantic, a friend and suporter of composer Richard Wagner, and he hired theatrical set designers rather than architects to design his castles. More absorbed in his personal world than state affairs, Ludwig spent most of his time on his own projects — emptying his personal coffers — and left his ministers frustrated by his inattention.
What is left is a mystery -and those castles! The Atlantic has a collection of 30 photographs of the king’s life and those gorgeous palaces that still grace the region. Link -via TYWKIWDBI
(Image credit: AP/Christof Stache)
This Lantern House designed by Roderick Romero of Santa Monica is just one of the unbelievable treehouses in this collection. It’s made of 99 percent salvaged goods, including a stained glass window Romero saved from an old movie set. You’ll also find a treehouse that exists in the middle of New York City, a “Spirit Sphere” and one created by the daughter of the former president of Vietnam.
Link via Prudent Baby
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If you’ve ever played BioShock, then you know just how amazing the setting, which takes place in the underwater city of Rapture, looks. That’s why it’s so cool to see this amazing recreation of the city created entirely in LEGOs. Be sure to click the link for even more amazing detailed photos.
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Last night, the New York state legislature voted to legalize same sex marriage. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the bill into law just before midnight. Celebrations began immediately.
Less than an hour after the New York legislature passed a marriage equality bill 33 to 29 during a late session on Friday, Twitter started filling up with messages about how the Empire State Building had “gone rainbow.” “OK, pictures of rainbow Empire State Building are getting me misty,” screenwriter Diablo Cody wrote. “A rainbow shines on the Empire State and the Empire State building tonight!,” another tweet read. And another: “Empire state building goes rainbow. Go us!”
Less than an hour? The Atlantic explains how the display was executed so fast. Link -via @Bad Astronomer
Sallie Trout designed this bookcase for a house in Austin dubbed the Jackalope Ranch. If I understand the arrangement correctly, she took out a set of stairs and used the hole to create a very tall bookcase. It’s accessible with a bosun’s chair suspended by a chain from the ceiling. Link -via Boing Boing | Designer’s Website | Photo: Trout Studios
Jon Salerno has a neat idea for a little home. It’s built to be fitted with a car which becomes an additional room when it’s parked underneath:
the fundamental structures of ‘habitat’ are a 100-square-foot cubic pod and a 32-square foot electrical vehicle, usable separately (as a microhome and car) or together, to create a 132-square-foot multi-level living space. the vehicle’s four chairs are reconfigurable: arranged in a normal forward position for driving,but rotatable to face one another to create a small living room when the car is docked to the home.
utilizing solar and wind energy, the two structures each store and feed energy to one another, with adjustable solar panels lining the roof of the living structure.
A Chinese company has begun construction of a duplicate Austrian village that is known for its scenic Alpine beauty. The town of Hallstatt attracts thousands of visitors a year, but apparently some of them were there to photograph, draw and take measurements of architecture to be duplicated in its Asian counterpart.
After taking photos and collecting other data on the village while mingling with the tourists, a Chinese firm has started to rebuild much of Hallstatt in faraway Guandong province. Although publicly, Hallstatters say they are proud that their village has caught the eye, others have voiced their outrage about the fact they were not consulted about the plans to replicate it.
The Seasteading Institute is positive that someday in the future, we’ll have to migrate away from land and into renewable-energy powered floating cities. So sure, in fact, that they ran a competition for seastead designs for permanent, stationary structures that would allow for long-term ocean living. From the off-shore floating research laboratory shown above to a Jetsons-esque enclosure, WebUrbanist has a detailed round-up of the five winning entries. Link
Image credit: Team 3DA
Are you running out of room for your books? Here’s a house design by Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio that hopefully doesn’t have that problem. Google Translate renders the Japanese text as follows:
Shelf-Pod is a private residence and study building, located in Osaka prefecture, Japan. The client owns an extensive collection of books on the subject of Islamic history, so he requested that we create this building with the maximum capacity for its storage and exhibition.[...]
The original image of this structure is derived from the Japanese woodcraft of Kumiko. The structural integrity against an earthquake is provided by a panel of plywood board nailed on the shelf. Initially, the horizontal resistant force guaranteed by the panels was examined in a real-scale model. Further to this, an analysis of the whole structure was performed in order to determine the placement of the windows and panels. The inter-locking laminated pine-board was manufactured precisely in advance and assembled on-site. Similarly, the pyramid-shaped roof was assembled on-site, from 12 pieces of prefabricated wooden roof panel. The completed roof has a thickness of only 230mm and sensitively covers the whole space like the dome of a Mosque.
Link (Google Translate) via Brian J. Noggle
