SCOPHY

Designed by Emilio Ambasz in 1975, this genre-defying architectural oeuvre entitled “House for Spiritual Retreat” located in Spain draws inspiration from the Andalusian Moorish heritage of Spain and minimal architecture.  The thin folding walls resemble an open book.  Staircases lead up to a room which provides a panoramic view of the breath-taking landscape on the other side.  The living quarters are actually located underground (providing thermal insulation) and open up to the courtyard.  Simply one of the true architectural wonders of the world.

Link to video report

Funny what a simple sticker on a building can do!  This brillant illusion is the Hana Bank Building in Seoul, South Korea.

The ISSHO architectural design office in Japan has created an apartment building called Fudomae with differently-shaped windows for a change.

Link to project page 

How’s that for swimming into the distance?  This swimming pool, part of a 5-star boutique hotel in Dallas, is located on the 10th floor of a downtown building.

Link to article 

In none other that Vienna, Alt-Erlaa, a social housing complex built between 1973 and 1985 for 10,000 low-income residents. On top of each of the 27-storey cascading blocks, there is an outdoor swimming pool used regularly by 70% of the residents. Too cold outside? You can use one of the myriad indoor swimming pools. How about a bit sauna? A little trip to the solarium? Some tennis? All that, and a whole lot more facilities are available to the residents. And of course, there is ample greenery to make you forget you are in a city let alone a housing project concrete block.

Link to interview with architect Dr. Harry Gluck

Link to official website for housing complex (in German)

Link to Google satellite map

Designed by architect Jean Nouvel, the Agbar Tower in Barcelona has over 4000 LEDs across 38 stories which can be synchronized by computer.

Link to website of building

Link to YouTube Video

Where else?  The world’s architectural playground, also known as Dubai, is soon to be host to a building that actually tilts at 7 degrees.  Besides this quirkiness, the floors will rotate giving you panoramic views.  You can project views from streets around the world on your windows.  Central servers in the building allow the downloading of audio and video entertainment.  The list goes on…

Link to project site 

Lose yourself…to find yourself.  Who needs a stroll in a park when you can enter a hypnotic room created by Yayoi Kusama?  Let the physical sense confusion match the mental one!

Link to artist site

The Cardiff Public Library in Wales begs to differ when it comes to the walls around a library…

Link to library

Patrick Blanc creates magnificent vertical gardens with elaborate patterns. His most notable recent work is the newly opened Musee Quai Branly in Paris.

Link to artist site

Despite not being filled with water, this swimming pool designed by Leandro Erlich provides an illusion for those both inside and outside. For those inside, they have the impression that they are in water when looking above. For those outside, they have the impression that those inside are deep under water.

Link to artist website

Located in Graz / Austria, the man-made island (host to a bar) in the middle of the mur river was conceived by Vita Acconci in 2003 to celebrate the city as the European culture capital of the year.

Link to Acconci project page

Bent into unthinkable shapes, steel makes up the entire structure of this Robert Bruno-designed house.

Link to Robert Bruno’s site

If London property price speculation continues to spiral out of control, I might have to build myself one of these billboard houses. Designed by Front Architects, the Billboard House does not necessarily have to be in an urban setting.

Link to architect’s project page

Designed by reknown Austrian multi-dimensional artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, this building in Darmstadt in Germany has a spiralling forest walk.  Vincent Callebaut might have been slightly inspired by the Hundertwasser building when conceptualizing skyscraper forests.  Incidentally, the city of Darmstadt is also where the winning team of the Solar  Home Decathlon hail from.  Not bad in terms of creativity for a city with a population that is barely over 100,000.

Link to more info about the building

Building up is not always the solution to land shortage. Designed by MVRDV in Amsterdam, the Wozoco apartments stand out in more ways than one.

Link to technical overview

Link to Google Maps

Link photos in Flickr

Continuing last week’s environmental theme, instead of a forest skyscraper, a park is layed out on terraces in a Japanese building. Designed by Emilio Ambasz & Associates in Fukuoka on the last available green space in the city, the Acros building needed to preserve the park as much as possible. Home to 35,000 plants and 76 different species, the layout enables energy consumption to be lower than other buildings of a similar size as the greenery keeps the inside temperature at a comfortable level. Inside, you’ll find a museum as well as a concert hall.

Link to Google Maps satellite image

Link to wiki entry

In an urban setting full of skyscrapers, it can be difficult to obtain enough horizontal space to create a decent park environment.  The solution, according to architect Vincent Callebaut , is to build vertical parks.  His proposal is currently being considered for the city of Hong Kong.

Link to project website

Late Japanese-American architect Isamu Noguchi built surrealist fountains where water seemed to start flowing down rather than up.

Link to Noguchi Museum 

The headquarters for this radio station in Poland looks like the military base for an alien army.

Link to article

Link to satellite photo

Link to radio station website (in polish) 

Pierre Cardin, the fashion designer who originally studied architecture, commissioned architect Antii Lovag to build the ‘Bubble House’ (or ‘La Maison des Bulles’) near Cannes.

Link to photo gallery

Link to architects 

No, the oldest skyscrapers are not in New York. They over 500 years old and located in Shibam, Yemen. Nicknamed the ‘Manhattan of the Desert’, suprisingly, Shibam’s skyscrapers are still standing despite using ancient and basic construction techniques.

Link to World Heritage Site

Link to Travel Adventures

Talk about minimal architecture! This house is built on of the smallest islands in the thousand islands in Canada. When there is high tide, there is no frontyard!

Architect David Fisher is proposing an innovative skyscraper design. There will be space between each floor for a wind-powered turbine. Electricity generated from these turbines will be enough to meet the power needs of the building. In addition, each floor will be able to rotate. Of course, of all places, it will first be built architects’ playground - otherwise known as Dubai.

Link