It’s back and better than ever. The 7th iteration of the “Changing the Face” architectural competition launches this May! The DuPont-sponsored contest, which asks architects to reimagine the facade of an aging iconic structure, has generated hundreds of ideas from architects all around the world since its founding in 2008. In 2011, Architizer partnered with DuPont to launch Changing the Face: Moscow, where designers submitted proposals to turn a modernist cinema into everything from a shimmering jewel case and monumental silver screen to an amusement park attraction and even what could be conceivably be Mr. Freeze’s headquarters. The competition was open-ended, with loose parameters that sparked all kinds of exciting, if fanciful, ideas like these. But now, things are different.

Changing the Face: Warsaw asks architects to develop a new facade for the city’s much-loved Rotunda building. The owners of the Rotunda, the PKO Bank Polski, are seeking to revitalize the structure with a new facade; along with Architizer, Dupont, the Polish Green Building Council, and the Warsaw branch of SARP, they’ll sift through all the entries to select a winner. The top design will then be built.

If you’re immune to bold text like me, that means it’s a really big deal. It’s a great opportunity for all architects, small and large firms alike, so you’ll make sure you’ll register when the competition officially kicks off next month. Stay tuned for more!

Click through for more about Changing the Face: Warsaw, and more about the Rotunda! 

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There are a few things I think about when looking at CEBRA’s design for the New Church of Valer in Norway. One is so obvious that it doesn’t warrant discussion; another does. Yes, the designers clearly have a particular affinity for the music and imagery of the irreverent French DJ duo Justice. The group has taken to plastering religious symbolism on both of their albums — their first uses a flattened orthographic drawing of a particularly chunky crucifix, while their sophomore effort depicts the same form in heavy gray concrete, half sunk in the rain-drenched ground. Look at that, now look at the CEBRA design.

They’re both monolithic statements, though the architectural application is, of course, more fitting and even funny (if unimaginatively meta). According to the architects, the design is to be realized in wood and stone that reflects Norway’s building heritage. The inclined structure also features a stepped facade, a real “stairway to heaven.” Have a look at more of the design over at designboom.

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What is going on here? Greg Kadel’s photo set for Numéro France‘s March 2013 issue is a contemporary take of “Beauty and the Beast” (sorta) that’s set in Eero Saarinen’s midcentury classic (and much beloved) TWA Terminal. Aptly titled “The Terminal,” this editorial features a femme fatale and some kind of yeti traipsing around the architecture, posing up and down its sculptural staircases and minimalist hallways. Apart from the obvious portrayal of the superego/id in conflict, we don’t really know what else to say, except #wookiefetish. Click through for more pictures. 

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Photo via

Despite what right-wing media and reddit trolls would have you believe, architectural counterfeiting is not limited to emerging East Asian countries (duh). The fact is that architecture, in the West or East, is no stranger to copying, a (professionalized) practice that continues to this day in all corners of the world. (For sterling proof see these 10 copycat buildings.) We find the latest example in Australia, where at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) in Canberra, strolling visitors may come across a black replica of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.

Spotted on the Tumblr webz this week, the sinister doppelgänger is every bit as awkward and cheaply built — or not so cheaply, the structure cost $13.8 million to build — as you’d imagine a copy to be. The double is actually one of several follies that dot the grounds of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), which shares its campus with the NMA. The replica was “designed” by architecture firm Ashton Raggatt McDougall at 1:1 scale with the original, though the latter’s canonical forms have here been submitted to strange mutations. A staircase grows from one of the structure’s sides, connecting the second floor to the quad, while the upper loggia and roof deck are nonexistent, hemmed in by a panes of dark, opaque glass. The white stucco specified by Corbu is replaced with black aluminum panels that scream “bad  80s achitecture,” and which, when coupled with rooftop’s solidified forms, lend the structure a heaviness entirely missing from the original scheme. It’s also scary as hell.

Photo via

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It’s expected that constructing a building ends up costing more than initial estimates predicted. After all, there are countless factors that figure into construction costs, from labor to material availability to seasonal considerations. Still, the final tab usually isn’t unreasonably inflated — unless, of course, you’re one of the world’s top architects (Norman Foster) and the project is the new Apple campus in Cupertino, California. The spaceship seen round the world, Apple Campus II is nearly $2 billion over budget already, and that’s before a single one of the design’s patented curved glass panes has even been fabricated. Continue. 

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No one, I repeat, no one can do LEGO like Mike Doyle can. We’ve previously spotlighted his Halloween-themed LEGO sculptures, which used approximately 130,000 of the famed plastic bricks to build large models of crumbling Victorian houses. Now, Doyle is back with a larger and much more ambitious project: Contact 1, the first entry in a series of thematically-linked works that celebrate “terrestrial contact events, spiritual beings and unique worlds.” Wait, whaaaa?

Doyle’s series will shed light on more elevate states of beings through the manically detailed, impressively constructed cities he has and continues to build. With Contact 1, he’s built an imaginary city of near Minas Tirith-like scale, complete with pixelated towers, forests, and waterfalls. It’s called Odan, home to an enlightened species that evolved from us but dropped the lousy inter-species killing thing, and it is dedicated solely to the development of its inhabitants cultural and spiritual needs. It also took Doyle 600 hours to assemble the huge 5 X 6 feet-wide project, which comprises 200,000 LEGO bricks and a whole lot of nonsense. Whether you buy into or are intrigued by Doyle’s conceptual backstory or not, his creation is stunning in many ways. Click through for more photos! 

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What you’re looking at there is the world’s most expensive penthouse, or it will be, that is, when the structure is completed in July 2014. The sprawling 3,200-square-meter multi-level unit tops a luxury residential project that overlooks Monaco’s famous beaches and the sparkling waters of the Ligurian sea. The 170 meter (557 foot) Odeon Tower will have 70 very expensive apartments, two duplexes, and a second, “smaller” 1,200 square-foot penthouse. Every unit will have full-height glazing, terraces, massive bathtubs, gaudy furnishings, and automated touchscreen controls that berate the help when they forgot your dry cleaning or neglect to add ketchup on your burger.

But back to the main draw: that ridiculous penthouse. It’s every bro’s fantasy: there’s a giant circular infinity pool complete with a waterslide and plenty of deck space to throw the kinds of parties billionaires that live on the top of skyscrapers throw. The building facade terminates at the penthouse level, so that huge fins of glass help mediate sunlight while protecting your privacy. Yes, the kind of privacy you need from prying eyes 500 feet in the air. Continue. 

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Photo: dip-tech

The first thing you learn about traveling abroad: not all McDonald’s are the same. From bizarre menu items (see this fantastic post charting the fast food giant’s regional eccentricities like Norway’s McLaks, Thailand’s green McPapaya salad, and the Philippines’ McSpaghetti) to bespoke themed outlets (see Australia’s Art Deco version of Mickey D’s iconic typology), McDonalds’ restaurants aren’t cast from the same mold. Case in point: the franchise’s new Batumi, Georgia location, a glass faceted pavilion that brings the Golden Arches into the 21st century.  Click through for more. 

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Image: NASA

You probably already guessed it, but New York City really does look like a giant night-light from space. This 400-millimeter satellite photo was taken by the crew aboard the International Space Station on March 23, 2013. Basically, nearly every nook and cranny of the greater New York region is lit up to the nth degree, excepting the city’s various parks and green spaces. (Central Park is that dark thin rectangle near the center of the photo.) That razzmatazz in the middle there is Times Square, home to the biggest and brightest stars on Earth. Maybe.

[via Gizmodo]

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In what’s easily the most creative (and nuttier) adaptive re-use project we’ve seen, The Attendant in London converts a Victorian-era public lavatory into a posh new cafe. The flip, conceived and overseen by Pete Tomlinson and Ben Russel, preserves the erstwhile loo’s period urinals, produced by Doulton & Co. in 1890, which were cleaned (duh) and polished to a sparkling white finish. A long wooden plank was wedged into the upper halves of the urinals to create continuous table space along the back wall. The urinal walls function as table partitions, while the banquette  showcases their surprisingly plastic forms.

Aside from the sculptural toilets, the original tiling on the floors and walls were also restored. The attendant’s office — this was the 19th century — was reimagined as a small kitchen, from which hearty sandwiches and steaming cappuccinos emerge. The entire effect is surreal and more than a little gross, while the aesthetic unapologetic ally plays into the irresponsible revisionism (see”Prohibition-chic” wrought by Boardwalk Empire) all-too-often employed by marketing schemes and television dramas. The dream of the (18)90s is alive at The Attendant.

Click through for more. 

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