Idle Nutt

Horten Headquarters, Copenhagen, Denmark

photoWSJ:

In more than 500 photographs, ‘Nordic Light’ (Thames & Hudson, 256 pages) by Henry Plummer catalogs the range of elegant solutions that contemporary architects in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have deployed to keep the cold out while letting the light in.

(via WSJ)

Grundtvigs Church, Copenhagen, Denmark

WSJ:

In more than 500 photographs, ‘Nordic Light’ (Thames & Hudson, 256 pages) by Henry Plummer catalogs the range of elegant solutions that contemporary architects in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have deployed to keep the cold out while letting the light in.

(via WSJ)

Myyrmäki Church, Vantaa, Finland.

I wouldn’t have guessed that this is a church.

WSJ:

In more than 500 photographs, ‘Nordic Light’ (Thames & Hudson, 256 pages) by Henry Plummer catalogs the range of elegant solutions that contemporary architects in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have deployed to keep the cold out while letting the light in.

(via WSJ)

Kogod Courtyard 3 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Ceiling/roof of Kogod Courtyard in the building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

Kogod Courtyard 4 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Ceiling/roof of Kogod Courtyard in the building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery.

The Opposite Hotel by Trey Ratcliff

What an amazing hotel in the heart of Beijing!

…

This is the lower pool area. It was dark in there for sure. I used a tripod to make sure the exposure was long enough to get the effect I was going for.

(via The Opposite Hotel | Stuck in Customs)

BMW Welt - the new production plant in Munich, Germany.

Notable not only for its aesthetics, but also for its solar heating and natural ventilation systems.

Designed by Coop Himmelb[l]au.

Inhabitat:

Grandmas make some pretty awesome things - pies, sweaters, and techinically, you. But can you say that your grandma ever made a village??? Ours certainly didn’t. Between 1956 and 1981 Tressa “Grandma” Prisbrey built Bottle Village using tens of thousands of bottles in mortar. The village is “an otherworld of shrines, wishing wells, walkways, random constructions, plus 15 life size structures all made from found objects.” The 1/3 acre lot in Simi Valley, CA is literally littered with the various structures that Ms. Prisbrey created as a hobby, constructive creative outlet and playful reminder of the joy of upcycling. Unfortunately, a 1994 earthquake has left the village damaged and in need of repair, but recent media attention has helped bring in new visitors and a renewed interest in preserving this wonderful and unique place.

All photos by Kathy LaForce.

Inhabitat:

Artist Mike Doyle has created an incredible series of abandoned houses made entirely from LEGO bricks that are a feast for the eyes. It’s hard to believe that the intricately detailed dilapidated home named “Victorian on Mud Heap” is composed entirely of black, white, and grey toy blocks. Doyle’s Victorian masterpiece is rendered in painstaking detail, making it ultimate dystopian dollhouse.

(via Incredible Decaying Victorian Home Made From 110,000 LEGO Blocks! Victorian on Mud Heap by Mike Doyle | Inhabitat)

NYTimes.com:

The rebirth of the South Bronx isn’t news. But Via Verde is. And it makes as good an argument as any new building in the city for the cultural and civic value of architecture. 

…

The four players began the right way, by asking people in the neighborhood what kind of building they wanted.

The answer: they wanted a healthy place to live.

(via Via Verde in South Bronx Rewrites Low-Income-Housing Rules | NYTimes.com)

Village Voice:

​James Ramsey, owner and founder of Raad Studio on the Lower East Side, has had a busy week. After New York Magazine unveiled his stunning renderings for The Delancey Underground (or, colloquially, “the Low Line,” the name that seems to be sticking) — an underground community green space proposed for an abandoned trolley terminal space beneath the Lower East Side — he’s been met with a whirlwind of interest in his idea. He presented last night to Community Board 3, and spoke to us today about his and partner (and third-generation Lower East Sider) Dan Barasch’s plan to create an underground green space using advanced solar technology.

(via James Ramsey Tells Us About the ‘Low Line,’ His Proposed Subterranean Sci-Fi Green Space on the Lower East Side)

Baubotanical building designed by architects at the University of Stuttgart in Germany

The tower is made out of living trees.  Hundreds of White Willow plants will eventually fuse together to form a huge single tree.

(via Inhabitat)

In 2010, the world’s largest 3-D printer will build the Radiolaria Pavilion, a 10-meter-tall structure in Pontedera, Italy. Made out of sandstone, the building will be printed one 5-10mm layered sheet at a time.

So far only a 3-by-3-by-3 meter model has been made of the Radiolaria Pavilion, but that’s enough to prove the process works. Considering the ease of moving from design programs to finished building, this could transform building construction. Without the need for rigid steel reinforcement, it could also usher in an era of more free-flowing and organic architectural design.

Driftwood by AA unit 2 (via Kenn Munk)

Driftwood was 2009’s Architectural Association School Summer Pavilion.  It is made of plywood and was designed by students from Unit 2 after a concept by 3rd year student Danecia Sibingo.  The piece opened in Bedford Square, London on July 3rd.

Apparently, there was a lot of debate about whether the piece was really architecture, or if it was sculpture, or maybe something else.

I think it looks cool and it seems like it was technically difficult to build.  To me it seems more like a sculpture, but I can see how it uses a lot of principles from architecture.

You can read more about Driftwood from Dezeen.