13 Other Leaning Towers
Hey, it’s hard to keep a tower on the straight and narrow! The Leaning Tower of Pisa may be the most famous, but there are towers that lean all over the world. Web Urbanist looks at thirteen of them, including the Round Tower of the Kilmacduagh Monastery in Ireland pictured. It leans 1.5 feet, but is in no danger of falling over. And its door is 26 feet off the ground! Link -via Unique Daily
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The Future of Architecture
Photo: Tom Bonaventure/Getty Images
There’s also speculation about recreating processes like limestone formation -which usually takes nature thousands of years- that eats carbon from the air.
Nanoarchitects are aiming to speed the process up to a matter of days. They believe it could be done simply by coating the walls of buildings with tiny droplets of engine grease. The grease would be laced with a common salt such as magnesium chloride. When the magnesium reacts with carbon dioxide in the air, a solid magnesium carbonate pearl begins to form.
This serves as the seed for the growth of white, wheatsheaf-shaped carbonate crystals. The large surface area of a droplet of grease maximises the interface between the magnesium and the atmospheric carbon, speeding up the rate of the reaction. Within days, the grease would be transformed into a sparkly crystalline coating similar in appearance to heavy frost or snowfall… A green city…would look like Narnia under the White Witch, crystal white and beautiful. The carbon choking our planet could become a harmless decorative feature.
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Habitable Polyhedron
Photo by Manuel Villa
SpaceInvading is bringing the Neat back with four architechtural wonders today. This one is the “Habitable Polyhedron” and it has a unique function.
The project, meant for a family house back yard in the suburbs, aimed at designing a small park or opened area where the young parents and their newborn child would enjoy a independent space from day to day house activities, a space for reading, playing, etc. Having in mind this objective, and considering the usages of the space in the long term, it was proposed the project incorporated a small building to complement and support outside activities. That way he building would serve as a shelter for the child to share with his parents and, later on, as his own personal activities and hobbies setting.
It gives the appearance of one of those cartooney buildings where the space inside is bigger than it looks from outside: Link
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What’s Dovecote to Do With It
For centuries, architectural marvels known as dovecotes were built to house the birds of the nobles. As you can see, you’d have had to be powerful and wealthy to obtain the rights to build these kind of pigeon coops on your property!
Pigeons were an immense passion and hobby for Romans, and typically the most powerful of men had these buildings constructed with marble powder coated roofing. Varro, Columella and Pliny the Elder wrote works on pigeon farms and dovecote construction. In the time of the Republic, the internal design of “pigeonholes was adapted for the purpose of disposing of cremated ashes after death: these columbaria were generally constructed underground.”
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Tree Top House
I’ve always been obsessed with tree houses, probably because I never had one. That being said, I couldn’t stop looking at these bizarre structures at the very tippy-top of the trees. For more cool tree houses, check out the rest of those on the Now That’s Nifty post of Amazing and Awesome Tree Houses.
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10 Inspiring Green Office Blocks
If you’re going to spend 8 hours a day at work in the office, it might as well be somewhere healthy and inspiring. Unfortunately the characterless and insipid glass edifices that so blight our inner cities are far removed from being either attractive or motivating, never mind sustainable. But there is a distinct wind of change breathing fresh life into the workplace with a new breed of elegantly designed sustainable offices. It may sound inconceivable, but these are the sort of places you actually might not mind spending the best part of your week in. StaoilHydro headquarters (pictured) is just one.
The futuristic new HQ of Norway’s StaoilHydro features five separate wings piled on top of one another in a seemingly haphazard manner. It saves energy by utilising renewable geothermal heat in its district heating and cooling system. Hot water (or cold depending on the depth from which it is extracted) is pumped out of a nearby disused coal mine straight into the offices’ radiators. Once the water in the radiators has cooled, it is pumped back into the mine to be naturally reheated by the Earth.
Link – via thrivecore
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Green Roofs: Style + Sustainable = 17 Sweet Designs
Green roofs have become about more than just sustainable architecture – they have become new, long-unused canvasses for artistic expression and creative design.
This collection of green roof designs shows the possibilities of not only environmental architecture but of making something beautiful out of one of the most ubiquitous bare surfaces in the world – the roof – as we move into the future of sustainable design.
We’ve always thought we had roofs covered. They had to be barren, hostile places the rain and the wildlife slid from before they could do any damage. Nature had no place on our roofs. Except…we couldn’t have been more wrong. A green roof may required a little extra engineering behind the scenes, but it’s far better than its non-living counterparts for regulating house temperature, filtering out pollutants, scrubbing the surrounding air, controlling stormwater run-off, absorbing sound and many more factors that impact our quality of life. A green roof is a healthy roof.
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How the Other Half Lives On: The Abandoned Halves of Paired Townhouses
Ever wonder what happens if a conjoined twin perishes while still attached to their sibling? In much the same way, Camilo Jose Vergaga explores the results of having one half of a building deserted while the other half remains inhabited.
In some cases, one half has undergone radical renovations and looks entirely different than its mate. In other cases, the old one has been cut from the new, leaving a lopsided half on its own. Sometimes the impacts cut deep as one half rots and and is filled with squatters while the other is maintained.
More than your typical urban decay images of abandoned places, this juxtaposition of occupied and unoccupied shows the stark before-and-after contrast – the then as well as the now, side by side in a way rarely seen.
In poor neighborhoods, when someone is taken to the hospital or otherwise leaves their home the neighbors and police tend not to watch out for the place in order to prevent problems. As the population of Camden continues to decrease these mismatched pairs only grow in number.
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The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant
Commisioned by Yellow Pages in New Zealand, the architectural firm of Pacific Environments designed this amazing treehouse/restaurant.
The concept is driven by the ‘enchanted’ site which is raised above an open meadow and meandering stream on the edge of the woods.
The tree-house concept is reminiscent of childhood dreams and playtime, fairy stories of enchantment and imagination . It’s inspired through many forms found in nature -the chrysalis/cocoon protecting the emerging butterfly/moth, perhaps an onion/garlic clove form hung out to dry.
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Light-Transmitting, See-Through ... Concrete?!
This is real, construction-grade concrete. It is not totally transparent, but the optical fibers embedded within it allow the concrete to transmit sufficient light to allow for some interesting (and useful) applications.
The fibers can transmit light up to 50 feet, and because they take up only a small portion of the block, they do not affect the structural integrity of the building material.
Filled with optical fibers that run from one end of a poured piece of concrete to the other, these prefabricated blocks and panels effectively transmit light from one side to the other. Colors and light remain remarkably consistent from end to end, but with a natural variation from the pouring process that actually softens the effects considerably.
Link – via darkroastedblend
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A Hotel With a Unique View
Everland is a hotel with only one room including a bathroom, a king-size bed and a lounge. What makes it so different is that – because it is also an art installation – this hotel travels! The Everland has been ‘parked’ in the most unsual places, like the roof-deck of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Leipzig, Germany.
Now the hotel is in Paris, high above the city, with a spectacular view on the Eiffel Tower from its place at the roof of Palais de Tokyo.
Considering how unique a night in this hotel is, the price is not so crazy: you can get the only room and the unique view for 333 Euros during the week, 444 Euros during the weekends.
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Converted Churches
Normally when we talk about religion and "conversion" we are referring to people that decided to make a major change in their faith. But what about actual religious temples going into a major conversion?
That is the case -among others- of this Dominican church in Netherlands that has been converted into an amazing bookstore, with a coffeeshop that, well…, let’s say was a bit controversial.
Check out some other churches turn into more mundane businesses.
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The Smallest House In The World
Jay Shafer is the creator and resident of the smallest house in the world, which he has proudly named Tumbleweed. Jay is an artist and architect who lives in his home in San Francisco. He sells plans for and builds tiny homes in sizes ranging from an extremely small 50 feet to a practically roomy 500 feet.
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The Hidden Door Company
Everyone loves a good secret passageway. The idea alone sparks curiosity and makes the brain buzz with thoughts of mystery and adventure.
Normally these hidden doors are relegated to ancient sites and historic buildings, but what if you could put one in your very own home?
Whether you have secrets to hide or just want to confuse guests, The Hidden Door Company specializes in creating practical secret doorways for the home.
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Brutalist Architecture
I learned something new today: the ugly concrete building style of the 50s to the 70s, exemplified by Le Corbusier, has a name. It is called Brutalist Architecture (the term brutalist originates from the French béton
brut or "raw concrete," but the name does fit the style
well):
The movement was initiated by French architect Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, known more popularly as Le Corbusier. The Brutalist approach was marked by an unashamed display of building functions and construction using poured concrete in a way that did not disguise the rough materials with which buildings are made. Brutalism [sic] completely rejected the classical norms of beautification and decoration for hard angles, rough surfaces, and exposed plumbing and machinery.
Link | Brutalist Architecture at Wikipedia | Brutalist Architecture Flickr pool
(Photo: Barbican Centre in London by GarySmith70 [Flickr])
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Sexiest Profession: Architect
What profession is found to be the sexiest by women? A survey done by a London dating agency Drawing Down the Moon (date unknown, this has been floating on the Web since 2005) revealed that architects get all the ladies:
Architects are seen as being "balanced and rounded individuals who combine a creative approach with a caring, thoughtful disposition," the survey found. It concluded: "Their ability to cope with pressure of work in a relaxed manner was also deemed to be a significant plus."
Male architects beat stockbrokers, doctors, film directors and teachers to the top spot.
Link – via Swiss Miss
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Scouting New York
Scouting New York is an occupation blog that’s also a gorgeous photoblog.
I work as a film location scout in New York City. My day is basically spent combing the streets for interesting and unique locations for feature films. In my travels, I often stumble across some pretty incredible sights, most of which are ignored every day by thousands of New Yorkers in too much of a rush to pay attention.
As it happens, it’s my job to pay attention, and I’ve started this blog to keep a record of what I see.
Not only does he record interesting locations in photographs, he also researches the architecture and other details for your edification and enjoyment. One post has several closeups of this building, which features gargoyles and other embellishments that are not visible from the ground. Link -via Metafilter
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15 Bizzare Houses
WebUrbanist has some fantastic houses on this list, the upside down one is probably my favorite after this list. Don’t miss out, click the link and view them all.
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A Freeway Runs Through It
This cool building in Osaka, Japan actually has a freeway going through it.
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The House(s) That Spite Built
Human emotion is a crazy thing. It can lead people to do irrational, silly and even spiteful things. So spiteful, in fact, they would erect an entire house just to irritate someone.
A spite house is exactly what it sounds like – a building that was built or altered for the sole purpose of exacting revenge. A person would have to be pretty seriously spiteful to spend the time, effort and money to construct a whole building in the name of anger. Let’s look at a few edifices that were born out of those emotions.
The Hollensbury Spite House
I can imagine that in 1830, having horses constantly trod near your house would get pretty irritating. The noise, for one thing, but all of those road apples being dropped wouldn’t be too pleasant, either. And that’s exactly how John Hollensbury of Alexandria, Va., felt about the alley next to his house that constantly received horse and foot traffic. So, to prevent people from using the alley, he built a seven-foot wide, 25-foot deep, two-story house. He actually used one wall of the existing house to construct the new house, so as a result the living room of the Spite House has deep gouges in the brick wall from the wheels of carriages brushing up against it. Photo from Michael Temchine of the New York Times
The Richardson Spite House
In Manhattan, at Lexington and 82nd, imagine a tiny apartment building created just to tick someone off. In 1882, two neighbors each owned a small plot of adjacent land. Each plot was only about 104 feet long and five feet wide. One of the men, Hyman Sarner, offered to purchase the land from his neighbor, Joseph Richardson, for $1,000. Richardson countered that the land was worth at least $5,000. When they failed to reach an agreement, Richardson built a rather impractical four-story apartment building on his tiny rectangle of land. It was demolished in 1915, unfortunately – I’d love to see that tiny little apartment building dwarfed by the huge buildings and museums near 82nd and Lex today. I bet the rent would be outrageous.
The Skinny House
The Skinny House in Boston is pretty well-known, at least in the area. The story goes that in 1874, a couple of brothers had a fight over the land they had jointly inherited from their father. Instead of properly settling the fight, one brother built a large home on the land while the other brother was away in the military. When the traveling brother returned home, he decided to spite his greedy brother and build a small house on what was left of the land they both owned, blocking his brother’s nice view.
It still stands today and is occupied. At its widest point, the Skinny House is just over 10 feet wide. The narrowest point in the house is only 6.2 feet wide.
The Edleston Spite House
Spiteful construction might seem like an American phenomenon, but it’s really not. England has seen its share of spite as well. In 1904, the Edleston family owned a plot of land next to the church yard of St. Mary’s in Gainford, England, where they attended church. When Joseph died, the family asked to build a monument in the churchyard in Joseph’s memory – he was a very active member of the church and had been for 41 years. The church said that the churchyard was already too full, but that the family could donate their land to the church and build something on that. Irked, the family built a house on the land next to the church, complete with a 40 foot column that pointed a V-sign (victory?) toward the church. The house is still there today, although I unfortunately couldn’t find any pictures of it.
The Tyler Spite House
You’ve been reading these and thinking “That’s great, but what I would really like to do is spend the night in a spite house,” haven’t you? Well, you’re in luck. The Tyler Spite House in Frederick, Md., is now a bed and breakfast. In 1814, Dr. John Tyler was the first American physician to perform a cataract operation. When the city made plans to extend a street directly through Tyler’s land, he did a little research and found that a local law prohibited building a road if work was under way on a “substantial” building in the path of the new road. He found this law just in time – he immediately had a building foundation poured on the small piece of his property that the new road would run through and effectively stopped the road from being built.
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