anne griswold tyng

Rarely do we hear about women architects, yet there are many who have done such influential, innovative work. Anne Griswold Tyng studied under Gropius and Breuer, worked at Louis Kahn's office (whom she also had an affair with) and did some amazing geometric, Bauhaus-influenced design in Philadelphia where she lived. I love this fireplace, such an interesting example of old architecture translated into modern design.

photo via New York Times

Carlo Scarpa built La Tomba Brion in 1970-1972, an impressive work of concrete detail and layering, creating beautiful effect with light and shadow. It's a work that I think perfectly blends architecture with the natural environment, and apparently Scarpa agrees. "I consider this work, if you permit me, to be rather good and which will get better over time. I have tried to put some poetic imagination into it, though not in order to create poetic architecture but to make a certain kind of architecture that could emanate a sense of formal poetry...."

frank lloyd wright

I watched two fascinating films on Frank Lloyd Wright, a documentary by Ken Burns and a two-part interview series by Mike Wallace. The documentary was an interesting look at Wright's life, loves, and work, with lots of scandal and drama. What amazed me the most was the sheer volume of work he was able to achieve in his lifetime, I don't think there's been an architect that has been as prolific but whose quantity of work has been equally matched by its quality.
The part on Fallingwater was pretty mind-blowing. The building is so perfectly and artfully integrated with its setting. There is something spiritual in the space where the architecture becomes an extension of the nature that surrounds it.
Wright is a genius, and you can tell from the Wallace interviews that he is most definitely aware of his own self-importance. The interviews take place toward the end of Wright's career and life, as he is working on his final project (The Guggenheim). There is some funny banter between a young Wallace (whose obsessive need to constantly smoke a cigarette is almost equally as entertaining) and pompous Wright, who pretty much hates on everyone from Dali to Elvis, and gives enough weird, vague answers to frustrate and amuse Wallace.

cineteca by ch+qs

As someone that prefers watching a film in one of the old historical art house theaters that still exist (there are a few amazing ones in San Francisco such as the Castro Theatre), over some oversized, ugly multiplex, this new film center in Madrid is pretty awe-inspiring. They manage to capture the drama, the darkness, and the glamour of the old theatres that I love, that wonderful feeling of escapism that can only be found at the cinema.
Bottom three photos via NYTimes...

Tea House

Shanghai-based Archi-Union does amazing things with concrete in this modern twist on a tea house.

inspiration

three bedrooms

summer bedroom

spring/autumn bedroom

winter bedroom

In a beautiful integration of art, architecture and landscape, Arata Isozaki has created three outdoor bedrooms for four seasons in the Mojave desert near Joshua Tree National Park.
(photos by Iwan Baan, of course)

An Architect's Fear

I didn't have time to see Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu's exhibit 'Cronocaos' at the New Museum in New York, but the theme is something that resonates deeply with me. It explores the potentially damaging effect that preservation movements can have on older buildings, creating sterile environments in which their historical character is erased. They examine this by taking an old restaurant supply store and splitting it in half, leaving one half in its original state, raw and exposed, yet beautiful in its flaws, and the other half stark white and bland, modernized to conform to the standards of real estate developers and yuppies in cities across America. Genius, and a bit sad. Nicolai Ouroussoff writes about it here.

ando

Ok, so I wrote that post about my disillusionment with modern architecture and then I came across a photo of Tadao Ando's Church of the Light today and I remembered what I love about it. It almost takes more ingenuity to create something so beautiful in its simplicity. His pure representation of material, his relation to the environment, his interesting use of light is what makes architecture so awe-inspiring. And, he uses two of my favorite things: concrete and crosses!

old vs. new

Lately it seems that every architect is either a) throwing a cube on the ground with a few windows and calling it modern architecture or b) going the extreme opposite direction and creating these insane amorphic abstractions to be different. I came across some photos of Princeton circa 1969

and found myself getting a bit sentimental for the town I lived in for almost 2 years and longing to live somewhere with some history. There is something romantic about the architecture of the past, the buildings that took years to create, with such painstaking detail put into them. buildings that grow more beautiful with age, when a graceful patina settles over them, rather than looking outdated in a matter of years... I'm not sure if the architecture is what creates those feelings or the time period that it represents, a time when people wrote letters and there was actual human interaction! some are able to blend old and new in a thoughtful and original way (berlin), but most cities seem to be carelessly creating these bland cookie-cutter urban landscapes. regardless, I think i'd rather be here..

than here..


(middle photo via lost)

YES

must get my hands on this

house of ray kappe

Gross looking green rug aside, this place is the bizness. I could cozy up here for days.

philly

when i see photos like these i wonder why i don't move back to philadelphia...where you can actually live in amazing old buildings for prob. half of what you pay for a shoebox in SF. aah, the high ceilings! massive windows! exposed brick! period details!

the home of adam wallacavage (via selby)

the home of shauna alterio and stephen loidolt

stadium architecture

I was watching the World Cup with friends today and guessed that Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg was designed by the firm that did the Beijing Olympic Stadium, Herzog & de Meuron. Well, they seem to design everything else these days, no? Anyway, I stand corrected. It was actually done by Boogertman Urban Edge and Partners who created a new facade in the design of a calabash (African pottery). The mosaic cladding has a ring of lights running around the bottom which simulates the look of fire underneath the pot. Stunning. And such an amazing game, so happy Spain pulled it off in the end!

Soccer City Stadium- Boogertman Urban Edge & Partners (via archtracker)

Beijing Olympic Stadium (Herzog & de Meuron)

spiritual modern

I have this thing for churches, chapels, temples..religious buildings of any kind. They are truly the only places where you can be alone and quiet. There is something so humbling and beautiful about feeling small in such a massive space. Growing up on the east coast coast you see so many old stone and brick churches and cathedrals that i tend to associate classical details with a feeling of spirituality. 

However, I've seen so many architects as of late that have managed to make the most modern and minimal structures feel peaceful. here are some of my favorites 'old' and new...

Church of the Light, Ibaraki, Japan - Tadao Ando
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista, Mogno Switzerland
St. Nicolas, Heremence Switzerland - Walter Maria Forderer
Notre Dame du Haut Ronchamp, France - Le Corbusier
St. Bartholomew's Church, Eastern Bohemia - Qubus Studio
Cathedral of Christ the Light, Oakland, CA - SOM
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain - Antonio Gaudi

visual acoustics

Go rent Visual Acoustics. 

It's a documentary about Julius Schulman, an amazing photographer and key figure during one of my favorite architectural movements, California modernism. He brought to life the works of architects that were just starting to make a name for themselves at this time - Neutra, Schindler, Koenig, Eames.  His photos of these iconic homes were some of the first images i had seen of this type of architecture, and were what turned me on to architecture in general.

Much like an architect, Schulman had a brilliant sense of composition, proportion and light that enhanced the  architecture in his images by creating a mood.  He captures a fantasy of a mythical los angeles and palm springs in the 50s and 60s, where the wild landscapes blend seamlessly with open architecture.

The film is incredibly interesting and Schulman is the cutest little old man who has some great stories about working with Neutra, Wright, etc. so just watch it already.

Kaufmann House, Neutra
Chuey House, NeutraCase Study House 22, Koenig

a modern vacation

Living Architecture is a non profit which commissions amazing architects from around the world to design modern vacation homes. I love this idea! All located in beautiful settings around the UK, you can check out availability/rates on the homes  HERE.

A + D

The Architecture and Design Museum is opening today! I see a trip to LA in the near future...

Toyo Ito

DesignBoom: "On the news broadcast they said that Italians are afraid of
     unemployment, criminality and pollution. 
     What are you afraid of regarding the future?"

Ito: "The thing that worries me the most is that

everyone wears the same things,

eats the same things,

   lives in the same environments. 

   This is what worries me the most."