Project: Nativity of the Giraffe

Architect: Hondelatte Laporte Architectes

Location: Boulogne-Billancourt, France

Function: The architects sculpted a giant yellow giraffe around a 450-square-meter nursery to create this unusual structure. The whimsical design takes that beloved childhood  concept of wild animals inhabiting an urban environment and runs with it, revitalizing the public space. Read more about this project in the Architizer database.

Photo © Philippe Ruault

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The answer to that headline: yes, only without the unnecessary death. Klaas Kuiken‘s charming little invention covers the roof of your house while also providing shelter for tiny winged creatures, tired from a long day of foraging, feeding, and whatever else it is birds do. The design consists of a small gabled “structure” fastened to the top surface of a clay tile, itself secured to adjacent tiles with special glue capable of withstanding extreme temperatures. Seen in section, the lilliputian unit is rather spacious, making this a dream abode for any bachelor bird. Continue.

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Farming, by its very nature, is anything but “fancy”. So, no matter what the overblown copy from Heritage Hen Farm, the company behind “Beau Coop”, the $100,000 Neiman Marcus-edition chicken coop, promises, you’ll never be a farmer, nor will farming ever be fancy. But, let’s back up a bit. It’s safe to say that handling a couple of chickens in your backyard–or more accurately, having the live-in help handle them–doesn’t constitute anything near farming. What it does constitute, however, is delusion (probably brought on by all that lead in your eggs), which won’t come cheap if you buy into this whole “Versailles-inspired Le Petit Trianon” fowl fantasy. Continue.

And speaking of architecture and farming, if you got a project you think successfully straddles both, submit it for an Architizer A+ Award here!

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All photos: Torsten Ottesjö

Sweden’s forever autumnal landscape, with its craggy rock shore, overcast skies, and barren forests, is the picture of existential bleakness. Or at least, the cinematic Sweden of Ingmar Bergman’s films is. Bergman’s nearly monochromatic aesthetic wrung all of the vibrancy out of the Scandinavian countryside, leaving only a monotonous palette of ash and blonde timber and sharp-tooth terrain, seemingly ill-suited for most life. That is, except chickens.

Torsten Ottesjö‘s Hönshus-1 is a sculptural house for hens. Perched above a bed of rock and gnarled logs, the chicken coop overlooks an inlet off of Sweden’s west coast, giving its residents a “sea view” and offering them a cozy retreat from the gray world outside.

The double-curved wooden structure, designed to mimic the feathery embrace of a mother hen, consists of a lattice-like facade with alternating panes of wood and void to bring natural daylight inside. The roof and backside of the house are covered in wooden shingles to prevent rainwater from penetrating the cabin. The entire shed is nimbly balanced on spindly steel legs, not much thicker than twig branches, that whimsically hold the house aloft and distance the sensitive creatures from the harsh realities of the ground. But not their thoughts. (ha!)

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The NYT says detained Chinese activist Ai Weiwei is playing the role of China’s conscience. [via NYT]

One Philly teacher is crowdsourcing the cost of his Master’s at Harvard – check out “Chasing Harvard.” [via GOOD]

A football center in Nairobi has been outfitted with solar powered lights, courtesy of a green energy company from China. [via GOOD]

P.J. O’Rourke has a hilarious comment in the WSJ about the urban cycling lane controversy: “go play in traffic!” [via WSJ]

Animal Architecture is a project that seeks to engage “the lives, minds and behaviors of our alternate, sometimes familiar companion species.” Read more about it, and the accompanying competition, over at BLDGBLOG. [via BLDGBLOG]

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It may come as a surprise to learn that HOK and Arup, two of the largest architecture and engineering firms in the world, are looking towards animals and insects for inspiration on how to build a better building.

While HOK is studying rainforests in search of better roofing, architect Mick Pearce (with Arup) constructed a building in Zimbabwe a decade ago, modeled after termite mounds that use passive cooling to a level of sophistication previously unreached. Yes: termites.

And now, there is a competition in the UK called “Beyond the Hive” whose premise is to create a five-star hotel for… insects. Of course we all know that insects have their own architects and don’t need our help, but local British parks overrun with them are in need of a more visually pleasing place to place them. Click through for five recent examples.

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