March 20, 2013
Yesterday, Curbed published a trove of renderings of Zaha Hadid’s hotly anticipated, hush-hush One Thousand Museum condo tower in Miami. And, readers: IT HAS A HELIPAD. The Prizker Prize-winning starchitect is clearly pulling out all the stops for her first tower in the Western Hemisphere. The sci-fi ‘scraper has a sleek exoskeleton, making it look like something out of the Alien movies, plus multiple pools, a cigar lounge, a super-swank amenity deck, cabanas(!), and countless other ridiculous luxuries. Basically, a James Bond villain needs to live here. Click through to see more images, and head over to Curbed Miami for all the renderings and floor plans!
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March 19, 2013
Turning dilapidated buildings with despairing histories into attractive lodgings seems to be all the rage. After spotting a former prison-turned-boutique-hotel, we came across this former insane-asylum-turned-residential-village on Curbed, which was picked up by Huffington Post, a media partner for the Architizer A+ Awards. Thanks to the Minervini Group, the Northern Michigan Asylum, located in Traverse City, has swapped its once bleak sanitary interiors for an upscale coziness, helping you forget the building’s more despondent past. The Village at Grand Traverse Commons occupies the former asylum’s 63 acres and will offer a combination of commercial offices, residential homes, and retail spaces, including bakeries and wine bars. The architects were careful to preserve much of the original Italianate materials and arched windows and doors. So, at a price of around $500k, would you be willing to move in?
Check out the story on the Huffington Post, and read more about this project in the Architizer database. (More photos after the jump!)
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December 11, 2012
Last August the Dennis Hopper compound in California, which consisted of three Frank Gehry-designed loft spaces, finally sold after spending nearly two years on the market. Last month one of the three condos, nicknamed “the three little pigs”, was listed for rent, and swooped up fast, too! Now, Curbed reports that the other two Gehry structures have turned up on Craigslist. Read more.
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October 16, 2012
Can Bjarke Ingels do no wrong? The “It Boy” has won numerous awards, gotten a big profile in The New Yorker, and wowed spectators around the world with his impeccable design and fun personal touches. (He’s also an A+ Awards juror!) Ingels continues to astonish with his latest project, the Marina Lofts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida—a 1,072-unit condo complex with two 36-story buildings that resemble a giant assemblage of LEGOs torn down the center. Aimed to be situated on the town’s New River (no, it’s not “new,” that’s just the name), the project is just short $250 million in funding. But for now we can sit and dream. Read more!
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October 11, 2012
LA-based firm Jerde is known for working with the best of the best in local and organic design to create public spaces that become popular destinations around the world. (We smell an Architecture+Collaboration A+ contender here.) Its latest project, Mecenatpolis, in Seoul, Korea, is no exception, with the enormous multi-use space sure to put the up-and-coming neighborhood of Hapjeong on the map. Read more!
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April 29, 2011
Hitler’s seaside resort for the “common man,” partially completed and still standing today near Ruegen, will now be turned into luxury condos. [via Curbed]
We wrote briefly last week to tell you about Open House, the DS+R and Droog- led project to rethink the role of the suburban home. Fast.Co Design has some of the schemes’ images – head over to learn how to turn your neighborhood into a vibrant service hub! [via Fast.Co Design]
And speaking of sprawl: A University of Quebec study has provn that higher gas prices correlate with lower instances of suburban sprawl. Bring on the price hikes! [via Infrastructurist]
The epic battle over the Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg continues: BD Online reports that the gas conglomerate is now “talking to other offices” about the project, throwing longtime project architects RMJM’s involvement in the embattled project into question. [via BD Online]
The US State Department is hyping a new initiative to contract better design for its embassies. The full report, in glossy PDF, is here. [via UnBeige]
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March 25, 2011
The interior of a different “F” missile silo, renovated in Texas by Bruce Townsley. Image via Wired.
Are you one of the many Americans worried about nuclear fallout drifting over the ocean from Japan (Yes! Those people exist! They’re terrible.)?
Survival Condos, a company retrofitting an old missile silo in Kansas, is way ahead of you.
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