Browsing: Misc

© Coop Himmelb(l)au

Coop Himmelb(l)au’s House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark is a  shared hybrid space that becomes a center of inspiration, “both of the shared-synergetic behavior and of the form and expression of the architecture..” Cultural and educational functions are interspersed between shared public and performance spaces, creating a network of interaction among the public, artists, students and educators.  Situated in a dynamic urban grid, the House of Music becomes a full extension of the  city, linking the character of the city with the new opportunities the Music Hall provides.

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Visiondivision shared with us their design for the Royal Elephant Pavilion which was rewarded an honorable mention in a not so ordinary competition.  Recently, the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustav received two female elephants from the King and Queen of Thailand as a way to express their gratitude for the creation of a Buddhist pavilion in the north of Sweden.  Stemming from this event, a competition was created to design the facilities for the two elephants.

More about the Elephant Pavilion after the break. read more »

Many of us, long before we even knew about architecture dreamed about a fantastic world in a galaxy far far away. Nowadays, Star Wars continue to surprise people all around the world, and we can now see the movie with a different eye. Perhaps, the architect’s eye.

At The Architect’s Journal, they selected the best Star Wars buildings. The top ten, after the break. read more »

Just in time to commemorate the 50 years of the death of Frank Lloyd Wright, LEGO released two of his master pieces on their architecture series: the Guggenheim Museum (who opened 50 years ago) and the Falling Water House.

These sets were designed with Adam Reed Tucker of Brickstructures, Inc, who also did the Landmark series for LEGO Architecture (Sears Tower, John Hancock Tower, Empire State, Seattle Space Needle).

You can order them at the online store for US$45 (+ shipping).

Seen at The Coolist (thanks Mike!)

Here’s a little game developed by AutoDesk. You get to see 10 images. Some of them are photographs of real objects or scenes, others are created by computer graphics (CG) artists.

Test your ability to tell which among the array of images are real, and which are CG. Play here.

Parkour is a sport on which you have to go from one point of the city to another as efficiently and quickly as possible, overcoming any obstacles in your way: walls, fences, trees, etc. This has made Parkour THE urban sport, included in recent pop culture music videos.

Danish film maker Kaspar Astrup Schröder is currently finishing MY PLAYGROUND, a documentary on movement, tricking, freerunning and parkour, and its relation with the urban spaces. This documentary will features scenes with parkour masters Team Jiyo and interviews with urban planners, local politicians, architects and philosophers.

The trailer uses the Mountain Dwellings by BIG as playground for the traceurs. The film is expected to be premiered in the summer of 2009.

Architects: Brisac Gonzalez / Cécile Brisac & Edgar Gonzalez
Location: Aurillac, France
Collaborators: Olivier Herman, Christopher Pfiffner, Margarita Bescos, Fumiko Kato, Henrike Rabe, João Baptista, Nicolas Ecrepont, Tea Puric, Afroditi Kirmi, Aitor Albo, Jean Dumas, Gerd Wetzel, Anke Schulz, Franck Quintanel
Client: Communauté d’agglomération du bassin d’Aurillac
Project year: 2004-2006
Construction year: 2006-2007
Construction Area: 5,265 sqm
Structure: VP Green
Theater Consultant: Ducks Sceno
Acoustics: Xu acoustique
Services: INEX
Photographs: ©Binet

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