Photo: Derek Kettela for Elle France, 2010

This week’s edition of Guess the Buidling features model Erin Heatherton on a striking sculptural terrace. Golden sunlight  bounces off playful chimneys, creating a dynamic backdrop for this contemporary fashion shoot. Built by a modern master with a penchant for ornament and allegory, this project is a mainstay of academic and popular discussion. Have you seen the warm-toned masonry and arabesque motifs before? If you think you know the project, tell us in in the comments section below!

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Nouvel’s Torre Agbar in Barcelona (left) and his new line of shoes. Photos: via Oobject and Co.Design

Jean Nouvel has taken a break from drafting (and re-drafting) MoMA’s controversial new Tower Verre to launch a line of … leather moonboots? Yes, Nouvel is the latest architect to dabble in shoe design, launching his Pure Capsule Collection recently during Milan Design Week. So how do his monochrome booties match up to Zaha’s scale-y sandals, or Gehry’s spiffy spats? Click through for our comprehensive ranking of starchitect-designed shoes, from the fab to the fug.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award in the pop-up category. See the full list of winners here.

We dare anyone to stroll into the exuberantly designed Louis Vuitton – Yayoi Kusama pop-up in London and not walk out of there with a smile. (The fact you can’t afford any of the designer duds sitting inside somehow doesn’t diminish its giddy pleasures.) Filled with the Japanese artist’s signature polka dots—and her surrealist sensibility—this red-and-white pumpkin-shaped store, located in Selfridges London, won the hearts of the A+ Awards jurors, snagging the prize for best pop-up. Read more!

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Ah fashion photography—in what other context would a bevy of glamourous women lounge nonchalantly on the ground in genuine Valentinos? Then again, those steps are *genuine* travertine, whose beautifully pocked surface catches shadows oh-so-well, camouflaging splotches of chewing gum and cigarette butts infinitely better than New York’s crusty cementitious sidewalks. So, where in the world is this fantastic urban stair? If you think you know this awesome project, sound off in the comments below!

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Pop-up designed for Nicola Formichetti by Gage/Clemenceau Architects, one of last year’s competition winners. Photo: Evan Joseph

BOFFO Building Fashion is back! The series, a collaboration with public-art nonprofit BOFFO, pairs emerging architect teams with up-and-coming fashion designers to create (some pretty amazing) pop-up stores in New York City. And after last year’s tremendous success—two AIA NY Interior Merit awards, plus incredible spaces for lingerie brand The Lake and Stars, Gaga stylist Nicola Formichetti, and more—we’re excited to announce Building Fashion’s latest iteration!

This year, we have a new location (a shipping container near Manhattan’s Meatpacking district) and three new designers! First up: Michael Bastian, the award-winning menswear maven whose riffs on all-American classics like cardigans and khakis have revitalized men’s fashion in the US.

Now all we need is an architect!

Looks from Michael Bastian’s spring/summer 2010 and 2013 collections

We’re running a competition to design Michael Bastian’s pop-up store! Architects have from today, April 12, till May 23 to submit design proposals expressing their vision of a retail space specifically tailored to the Michael Bastian brand. The jury will include Eva Franch (Storefront for Art and Architecture), Stefano Tonchi (W Magazine), and David Van Der Leer (Guggenheim Museum), along with other industry professionals and BOFFO and Architizer staff.

The winner will receive $20,000 to build and realize his or her vision. (Architectural Systems, a resource of curated interior finishes from around the world, will donate $4000 of materials at cost for installation.) The Michael Bastian pop-up will be open to the public from November 1 to 21.

You can find more competition details, including how to apply, here.

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Photo: Steven Klein

Mid-Century is back! (Though many of us in architecture weren’t aware it ever left). From thick-rim glasses and skinny ties to troubling instability on the Korean Peninsula, it seems the ’50s have returned for a muddled encore. The above house was completed in the past 5 years, though it wouldn’t look out of place in our recent Palm Springs Modernism Roundup. Think you know the building? Discuss below!

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Story by Karen Wong, New Museum deputy director and A+ Awards juror.

In 1970, Alvin Toffler, a scholar and futurist, coined the word adhocracy as a type of organization that operates contrary to a bureaucracy. Last year, Joseph Grima (editor of Domus magazine) reignited the term, naming his Istanbul Design Biennale exhibition “Adhocracy.” The idea: that the new design revolution is no longer about factories producing millions of perfect objects, but about workshops crafting smaller batches of items characterized by their individuality.

This burgeoning movement of the “adhoc” pervaded my senses during a recent visit to the Late Night Chameleon Café, known online as LN-CC. Located in a warehouse basement in the former armpit of East London (Dalston), LN-CC is one of the most adventurous retail experiences I’ve ever had. Read more!

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Ah, strategically-placed shadows, where would fashion photography be without them? This striking photo features an artfully poised model perched at the edge of a wonderful home, hovering above some tropical hinterland. Can you guess the building? Share your speculations in the comments section below!

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Photo: Willy Vanderperre

H&M’s more sophisticated sibling COS had Willy Vanderperre shoot its elegant fall collection at this iconic building. Know what it is? Share your guesses in the comments below!

UPDATE: The answer is l’ Unité d’Habitation by Le Corbusier in Marseille!

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Think the Grand Palais is grand enough for Chanel? Pssh, please. For its spring 2013 couture presentation last week, the brand — led by eccentric creative director Karl Lagerfeld — spruced up the place by transforming it into a lush, verdant forest, shipped into the magnificent Beaux-Arts structure tree by tree. Probably not the most environmentally sound fashion show ever, but it sure looked spectacular. See more photos after the jump!

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