Two of the most iconic projects from the modern movement built in the US take part in a play by June Finfer, directed by Evan Bergman. The design and building of Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and Philip Johnson’s Glass House is the background for the penetrating dramatic plot that entwines the epic conflict between artist and patron. The Glass House explores the classic struggle of ambition, love and betrayal.

Post Performance Talks by Paul Goldberger (Architectural Critic and Author), Barry Bergdoll (MoMA), Annabelle Selldorf (Architect), Christy MacLear (Executive Director of Philip Johnson Glass House), Dietrich Neumann (Architectural Educator), Whitney French (Executive Director of Farnsworth House) and Barry Wood (Architect).

Dates and more info after the break. read more »

100 first year students in the Department of Architecture are developing proposals to design and construct a minimal dwelling unit that they will occupy for a period of 24 hours. Each unit must accommodate an entrance, internal circulation, and sleeping areas for a minimum of three people. Individual units are placed adjacent to one another and share boundaries thus creating a party wall condition between adjoining structures where unique structural and programmatic conditions might begin to evolve.

Once transported to the site projects will be reassembled and assume their final position as a linear community of buildings, titled the Living Wall. The students will have a unique opportunity to spend a 24-hour period in their structures after they are reassembled on site. This experience will enable the students to better understand the consequences of their decisions and to explore the successes and shortcomings of their structures.

The proposed structures that you see on exhibit have been studied at progressively larger scales and various modes of representation. They will ultimately be constructed at full-scale and transported to the Griffis Sculpture Park (Located in Cattaraugus County between Ashford Hollow and East Otto) where they will remain on display through October 23, 2010. More information can be found here.

Last week we told you about Christian Bay–Jørgensen’s idea to turn the famous Hollywood Sign into an hotel. Today, we feature another idea designed by Danish and Belgian architects Bart de Lege, Frederique Hermans, Jan Bloemen, Joep Verheijen, and Steven van Esser. You can find more information here.

More images and architect’s description after the break. read more »

Every now and then, we find some crazy ideas around the web. What about this one?  Christian Bay – Jørgensen, owner of Bay Arch, has an idea to turn the famous Hollywood Sign into an hotel. This could solve the money/land issues that have been sorrounding the sign lately. The plan calls for the famous letters to be enlarged to double the size, building them out from the back, allowing guests to stay inside the Hollywood sign itself.

Seen at Slashfilm. More images after the break. read more »

Many of you will be enjoying some delicious chocolate eggs this weekend. We didn’t want to be left behind so we want to see some egg architecture! What about this egg casino in Las Vegas, designed by Neutelings Riedijk Architects?

Can you tell us of other egg projects around?

At ArchDaily we also have place for those projects or ideas that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere else. Ideas, toys or rankings, these are the posts we enjoy for their creativity and of course, sense of humour. Enjoy!

LEGO Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright Collection
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 (read more…)

The Architecture of Star Wars
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 (read more…)

Pie Plan
Why hasn’t this been drawn before? Very shrewd Pie Plan diagram from designer Abi Huynh which is “divided by utilization”. Nice. Simple idea, but can it be made? Our readers told us you cannot take this idea serious. With over 50 comments, have a look at what they think this curious idea. See the comments right here (read more…)

Alphabet City
Artist Scott Teplin has created this superb series of 26 letterpress dream-houses, each designed from the letters of the alphabet: Alphabet City. You can find different uses for each letter. Houses, restaurants, bathrooms, etc. You also see all the houses in the link on the post. Which one is your favorite? Seen at NOTCOT (read more…)

Top 9 Ninja Characteristics of Awesome Architecture Blogs
Linda Bennet, a fantastic arch blogger from Australia, made a great comic showing the top 9 ninja characteristics of architecture blogs. And as you can see, we are very pleased to be included. Also featured in the comic were great blogs such as AMNP, A Daily Dose of Architecture, Inhabitat, Super Colossal, Designboom (read more…)

A reader sent us this quite unusual project. We don’t know where it is or who designed it, so if you know please do tell us. What do you think it is? My guess, something related with music…

Linda Bennet, a fantastic arch blogger from Australia, made a great comic showing the top 9 ninja characteristics of architecture blogs. And as you can see, we are very pleased to be included. Also featured in the comic were great blogs such as AMNP, A Daily Dose of Architecture, Inhabitat, Super Colossal, Designboom, BLDGBLOG, City of Sound, Dezeen.

Seen at Archi-Ninja. You can see the complete comic after the break. read more »

Artist Scott Teplin has created this superb series of 26 letterpress dream-houses, each designed from the letters of the alphabet: Alphabet City.

Seen at NOTCOT. See all the houses here.

This amazing waxed birch plywood modernist dollhouse named Villa Sibis was designed by German interior designer Wolfgang Sirch and sculptor Christoph Bitzer.

The furniture includes two beds, table and four stools, shower with wash stand, kitchenette and a movable room divider.

There are also outdoor facilities including staircase, catwalk, sun deck and movable bench monoliths. Finally, a roofed pool with movable back and front made of acrylic glass.

Seen at NOTCOT.

This year, Hometta’s celebrating by offering all their friends and members free downloadable plans for the hippest gingerbread house on the block. This DIY house is a small-scale version of the Draft House by Hometta’s own, award-winning HouMinn Practice.

Free plans and detailed instructions on how to build your very own modern gingerbread house are available here.

To learn more about Hometta, click here.

Why hasn’t this been drawn before? Very shrewd Pie Plan diagram from designer Abi Huynh which is “divided by utilization”. Nice.

Seen at It’s Nice That.

© 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.

read more »

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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