From a cult game on the mobile phone to theme park, who would have thought that Angry Birds could get so big, so fast?
The first – yes, there may be more – authorised angry Birds theme park has opened in Finland, designed by the gang who made the game. Don’t be surprised if there’s one here, Stateside in the coming years. After all, a TV series is in the works.
Angry Birds Land mimics the game that has been downloaded more than 500 million times, featuring some…
The first gold medal of the London 2012 Olympics has gone to the, er….Olympic Torch?
That’s right, the Olympic Torch designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby has clinched Design of the Year from London’s prestigious Design Museum
The overall winner was chosen from 89 entries to claim the winning title and, somewhat surprisingly, it beat out the 2012 Olympic Velodrome in London for the overall award. The stunning Velodrome which Funktion covered here [London Unveils Sweeping Olympic Velodrome] – did scoop the Architecture Award though.
The judges agreed that the Torch is ….
They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure but this villa constructed in Rome entirely out of trash really is something else.
Constructed by 24 students as part of the RE-cycle exhibition in Rome, the OFFICINA ROMA is made from stuff discarded by others, ranging from old oil barrels and car doors to window frames and bottles.
There’s a kitchen entirely built from old bottles, a bedroom featuring walls made from car doors and the workshop using wooden windows and old furniture with a ceiling made of oil barrels.
It may not be the prettiest thing you will everyday see but I’m a big fan of the curving glass walls and the sheer ingenuity that goes into turning the stuff we throw away every day into something quite unique and practical.
Some more photos after the jump.
We all have dreams of building that extra garden room at the bottom of the garden – that grown-up shed you can retreat to when you need to get out of the house and away from the kids.
Sadly, the time involved, the back breaking labor and the cost – is enough to ensure that the dream remains just a dream. But what if you could – with some help and planning – build a environmentally friendly, energy efficient cottage in just 8 hours?
This was the challenge set by Mandala Homes in British Columbia and the result is their Round Green Home. OK, so the foundation posts are already in place, and the sub-floor and the panels are pre-fabricated but still, to assemble something of this size in 8 hours is some feat.
Check out the time-lapse video below:
It was a fierce battle among some of the most cutting edge and stunning homes out there but in the end, there could only be one winner of the WAN House of the Year AWARDS 2011.
We covered some of the entrants a few months back [Read: House of the Year 2011] but, from an original field 99 homes, which was whittled down to a long-list of 28 and then again down to a shortlist just 6, followed by a head-t0-head of just 2, The Complex House in Nagoya, Japan by Tomohiro Hata Architect and Associates, was crowned the 2011 winner.
Comments on The Complex House came from David Levitt – one of the judges – as he acknowledged the ‘serious design intent of The Complex House in contrast to The Stone House as a luxurious holiday home’. He added: “Cities are the challenge; 21st-century urbanisation of big cities is the crucial thing to consider.”
Fellow architect and judge, Sarah Wigglesworth, added:….
How do you fit an office into your home/apartment when you don’t have a dedicated room to spare?
Well, you need a transformer office, of course, like this beautifully crafted giant steamship-styled trunk, that hides all your office-y bits like computers and paperclips, and then closes up neatly when it’s not needed.
This retro beauty is Restoration Hardware’s Mayfair Steamer Secretary, designed and made by antiques dealer and furniture maker, Timothy Oulton of London, However, before you go scrambling for your credit card, be aware that it cost a cool…
There’s no doubt that some buildings exert positive vibes, making us feel good while others can induce a sense of dread, depression or claustrophobia.
Take most of the hospitals you’ve ever been to as a good example of buildings designed to make you feel worse, not better.
The idea that structures can heal is explored above by Michael Murphy, the CEO and president of MASS Design Group, who believes that while some structures can make us feel worse, a well-designed building can make us feel better.
Taking it one step further, he encourages designers to use local materials and labor to improve the economies of the communities that the building – in this case hospitals – will serve.
Are there buildings out there that make you feel worse?
Disneyland won’t win any architecture awards but its fair to say that almost everyone recognizes it.
As theme parks goes it’s on top of the heap. Hell, there’s even a place called Dollywood based on singer Dolly Parton but now, the French are planning a new, and strange, twist on the theme park with ‘Napoleonland’.
Based around the famous French general, emperor, sometimes tyrant and military genius – Napoleon Bonaparte – it is the brainchild of former French minister, Yves Jégo.
Unlike other theme parks with parades of cartoon characters played by bored teenagers in giant smelly suits, this one would recreate giant battles featuring hundreds and thousands of extras.
His grand plan is to build the theme park just south of Paris on the site of the Battle of… Read the rest of this entry »
What do you get when you cross good urban design with paranoia? Bomb-proof trash cans apparently.
Believe it or not, these cool looking recycling bins have just started being deployed in London’s financial district and yes, they really are bombproof too. With terrorist bombing fears still fresh in the minds of its politicians, the Renew bins are the first to be deployed since London removed its cast iron bins a few years ago.
The bins’ armor has been tested in the deserts of New Mexico but it’s not the only feature of this $47,000 litter box. More photos after the jump.
Yes, it’s an odd headline but it’s actually the name of a very interesting and well-received documentary about the architectural works of Sir Norman Foster.
Referred to by one reviewer as the ‘Mozart of Modernism’ the documentary ‘How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?’, by First Run Features, has been winning rave reviews from the press in Europe and the US.
Check out the trailer above.
The makers describe the film as “a portrait of one….
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