Frank Gehry - Serpentine Gallery

I've visited quite a few of Gehry's works, and I'm normally impressed, but this looks like a kid glued popsicle sticks together and called it architecture. I threw up in my mouth a little bit.
What the hell Frank?!

Hollin Hills, Alexandria, Virginia

Last week I was surveying a pool house slated for renovation and found myself on a street of beautiful, modern, well-sited homes. Some on overgrown lots in need of maintenance, others well kept with nicely manicured landscaping, others with stand-out additions. I took a detour from my work and slowly drove down the street, then found a side street with similar homes, and eventually found a huge community, all with these fantastic little houses. It was a mini modern architectural wonderland, here in northern Virginia, where almost EVERY home is cookie cutter standard builder models.

I got home and did some research, and found that the neighborhood I had wandered into was Hollin Hills. It was designed and built in the 1940's by architect Charles Goodman and developer Robert davenport. (Goodman designed National Airport in Washington DC). All in all, the neighborhood tops out at 450 homes. Reading through the Hollin Hills Design Review Guidelines, I came across some of the ingredients that make up this neighborhood. The following are taken directly from the Architectural Review manual:

-Houses are sited to take advantage of the topography and sun
-Views from our homes "borrow" vistas from adjacent yards, making our yards appear more spacious
-The plan arrangements are "open" with the public spaces flowing into one another rather than always being separated by doors
-The walls of Hollin Hills houses are unornamented, planar surfaces with tall, rectangular openings
-Structures should step with the slope to fit the natural terrain

They are in the process of becoming recognized by the National Register of Historic Places.

An aerial photo showing the difference in siting between Hollin hills and the development just south of it:


Photos from an article from Dwell magazine that covers a restored Hollin Hills home (link):
Aerial Photo from google maps (link):


The architect Charles Goodman:


Some other photos from around the net:


In searching for info on the community I found a fantastic blog on modern DC homes for sale, Modern Capital.

Hollin Hills Website

Snohetta - Boulders

A very cool jumble of reflective masses by Snohetta for the ''King Abdulaziz Center of Knowledge and Culture’. This complex encompasses just under half a million square feet.
Reminiscent of the cloud gate in Chicago. The renderings are amazing as well.

David Adjaye - Lost House

I showed some of David Adjaye's work previously on this post, but this one focuses on his Lost house in London.

The street facade is relatively quiet and unassuming, you probably wouldn't give it a second look if you drove past it.


But behind it, sits an open, high ceiling, modern beauty with interior courtyards (see related post) and even a lap pool.



I really dug the sunken cinema, which looks embedded into the wall, its effect enhanced by the monocolor green paint/fabric/carpet/millwork.



This puppy recently sold for $5.4million USD, or $1,273 per square foot! Geezus. (see link)

Where in the World - Lost House, London

Banksy

I came across an article on Banksy today on archinect, I'd never heard of him or seen his work before. I'm obsessed. He's a political, intelligent, creative, and mischievous artist mostly known for his graffiti works in Britain. Some of his works have sold in the past few years for over half a million dollars.

Campione d'Italia

This is Lugano, Switzerland.

Click to enlarge. (Taken by this guy along with a ton of amazing photos of Ticino)

Ever since my visit to Lugano I've been determined to retire there or at least spend a significant portion of my older years there. It's amazing. Problem is, unless you are a Swiss resident you can't buy real estate there. But you can in neighboring Italy.

Enter Campione d'Italia. (Look at the photo above again, I put a small red dot on the approximate location of it)
It is an Italian enclave on the shores of Lake Lugano, an island of Italian land completely surrounded by Swiss land. So essentially you're in Switzerland :)
It's about 6 or 7km across the water from the shores of Lugano, or a 10 minute drive around the lake's edge.

It also operates a casino. Which I may have to avoid or else my retirement may be cut short!

Location maps:

And here's a lake view with the hideous Casino in front.


Now I just have to design, build, develop and rent or sell enough buildings in the next few decades to make this happen.

Where in the World - Campione d'Italia

Stiappa, Italy

Stiappa is a small hilltown in the Pesciatin hills in Italy. I only saw 1 or 2 residents while I was there wandering through. The rooflines and houses appeared to have come about very organically; however it was easiest to create a path up the hill delineated the walkways and paths, the house locations came after that. Sadly I can't find much about the little village online, but that may be a good thing afterall to thwart tourism. Below is a map I made of rooflines and an image I took of it from afar.



I did however come across this nifty little postcard looking thing on google images.


Where in the World - Stiappa

Meta Furniture

Meta is bringing back the craftsmanship to furniture design & fabrication.

Traditional craftsmen/artisans produce the works of modern designers, in very limited quantities.

Below is a table designed by Asymptote, of slumped glass over reused 200+ year old Imperial Tula steel.

Klein Dytham Architecture - Disappearing Towers

I received an email yesterday from Mark Dytham over at KDa on a current project of theirs. They are camouflaging two 20 year old, 40-story towers; so during the snowy season the black and white one blends into the landscape, and during the summer months the green one blends in. Very cool twist on re-facing a building.

Again, Check their website, their work is incredible.



Previously - Klein Dytham Architecture

Side note: I really like the layout and navigation of the KDa website. I find many architects strive for a uniquely-designed experience on a website, which ends up confusing and kind of retarded. Take a clue here, everything laid out on the bottom and always accessible. Some awkward sites that tend to make you lose interest very fast:
http://www.morphosis.net/
http://www.zaha-hadid.com/

Build, LLC

BUILD is a Seattle based design/build firm. They do great work.

Their website is insanely extensive, definitely worth spending some time pouring through. Their blog exhibits some of their completed work, and the captions/annotations damn near make a complete finish schedule, like a blog as Construction Documents. Worth a peek also. Nice work fellas.


Build, LLC

Claudio Labarca and Juan Ignacio Lopez - Cube House

A little 350 sq. ft. concrete&wood box by Claudio Labarca and Juan Ignacio Lopez in Santiago, Chile.

Gareth Neal Furniture

Drool. Furniture by designer Gareth Neal. This guy does good work.