This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury Award in the Architecture + Economic Crisis category. See the full list of winners here.

Since the economic downturn in 2008, Detroit has been the center of many architectural inquiries. From the voyeuristic photo essays of the city’s post-industrial ruins and vacated houses, to the design competitions and interventions that concentrate revival efforts on specific blighted areas, architects, planners, artists, and locals have shown varying degrees of faith in Detroit’s renaissance. In most cases, such urban renewal efforts have attempted to pick up the pieces and breathe new life into them. Architecture, planning, and landscape design firm Payette has taken a somewhat different approach. The firm began by envisioning something Detroit did not have: a thriving TechTown—an “innovative district,” as they somewhat hesitantly described it—that could catalyze the city’s revival. “We started by imagining what a successful TechTown would look like and analyzed its essential characteristics,” explained Payette principal designer Leon Drachman. “From there, we worked backwards.” More after the jump.

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On any given day, around 60,000 to 80,000 airplanes take flight worldwide. As common as a flock of birds flying overhead, the daily mass of planes leaves nothing but a flash of metal and dissolving vapor trail. Instead of depicting the airplanes as fleeting, photographer Kevin Cooley captures their light trails, transforming these vehicles into gleaming celestial fixtures of the sky. The long-exposure photographs were created by opening the shutter of his camera over an extended period of time near major airports in the US. The glowing lines in each picture represent the amount of time each plane takes to pass through the frame. The blinking navigation and landing lights blend into bright streaks, reminding us of their ubiquity in contemporary life. Click through to see the rest of his photographs, and an accompanying video!

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We love when designers get to thinking about how to create hip accommodations for kitties. In the past, we’ve featured covered litter boxes inspired by mid-century modernism and feral cat shelters inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright (yes, seriously). Today, we bring you Catissa, a wooden, four-story house meant to be affixed to a wall. Conceived by Mojorno, a Russian design studio, Catissa gives cats a bird’s eye view of the house while also providing “a safe place” for them to take a nap. “Dogs and children can’t get them,” the designer says. Plus, the smooth surface makes for easy cleaning.

Click through to see one of the best photo shoots ever involving cats and modernism!

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Behold “Pisces,” an enormous worm-like sculpture made of 10,000+ balloons! The piece, created by the New York-based artist Jason Hackenwerth, was unveiled at the National Museum of Scotland during the recent Edinburgh International Science Festival. According to the site Colossal, the artwork was inspired by the Zodiac sign Pisces, which itself was inspired by the story of Aphrodite and Eros escaping “the fearsome monster Typhon by transforming into a tightly woven spiral of two fish.” It reportedly took a small team six days to blow up the balloons for Hackenwerth’s installation. Click through to see more images!

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Looking to add a little sex appeal to your home? We have just what you’re lusting after: a sleek kitchen designed by fashion icon Giorgio Armani for Dada, the kitchen division of Molteni & C.

“Slide,” as the line is called, was presented last week at the company’s pop-up space in central Milan (above: our CEO Marc Kushner scopes it out!). In addition to its handsome wood paneling that hides all of your culinary necessities, the kitchen features an island with a thick marble counter that gracefully slides open and closed; tucked underneath is a stainless steel work area, with a cutting board and cooktop. Pretty clever, right?

Armani “took his inspiration for this concept from the informal yet refined atmosphere of dinner with a chef.” The experience, he says, is like a “show with the kitchen in the leading role, around which the guests gather.” Certainly, this collection is a showstopper. See more photos!

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

When asked what the most challenging aspect was when designing the elegant Horse on the Ceiling library extension, zauberscho(e)n partners Stephan Weber and Andreas Schüring had an easy answer: They were both students at the time of commission. “It was the first time that we really put ourselves in the role of an architect, not [just] theoretically anymore,” they explained. “With our professor’s support”—that would Herbert Bühler of Bühler & Bühler—“we coped with all the ups and downs, [which] wasn’t always easy!”

Despite their admitted inexperience, the duo executed a thoughtful extension to a library at the Muenster University of Applied Sciences and the Academy of Art with the BLB NRW in Germany, creating a distinctive contemporary annex that respects the history of the campus. The Horse on the Ceiling incorporates part of the brick facade of the adjacent main library—once a functioning stable more than a century ago—into its design, placing stacks of books where horses once stood and surrounding them with floor-to-ceiling glazing. Read more.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Popular Choice Award in the library category. See the full list of winners here.

With the recent controversy flaring up over Foster + Partners’ New York Public Library renovation, it’s easy to feel skeptical about contemporary modifications to historic civic landmarks. A look at Cannon Design’s Central Library Renovation at the St. Louis Public Library, however, might renew a little faith in such projects. Tasked with renovating a century-old Cass Gilbert-designed building in the heart of St. Louis, the architects faced the challenge of restoring the Beaux Arts landmark to its former glory while enhancing the structure to accommodate the new needs of the institution. Click through to see more.

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This project won the 2013 Architizer A+ Jury and Popular Choice Awards in the Architecture + Communication category. See the full list of winners here.

“For Steven [Holl], the watercolors were transposed into architecture,” the filmmaking team of Spirit of Space explained, “and for us, the essence of the architecture was transposed into film.” In all their footage of Holl’s Daeyang Gallery and House in Seoul, what comes through is not the structural, material, or spatial logic of the hybrid residence and art space, which, as we’ve previously noted, is defined by three pavilions that seem to emerge from a tranquil plane of water. Instead, the film captures a certain experience engendered by the architecture via abstract close-ups, time-lapse shots, and fragmentary narratives. The artfully choreographed movements of a shadow, a passerby, or a performing violinist never quite allow the mind to settle on a single concept of space or form. More after the jump.

Daeyang Gallery & House Film – SPIRIT OF SPACE from Architizer on Vimeo.

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Buongiorno, dear readers! We’ve just returned from Milan, where we spent a week fully immersing ourselves in Salone del Mobile—the Olympics of the furnishings world. Now, if you’re envisioning us sipping chianti and feasting on decadent Italian cuisine while casually checking out some neat decor, you have it all wrong. There was no time for leisure! We combed every inch of the 2.5-million-square-foot fair grounds, hunting down the coolest new products while also admiring some classics (like these Cassina chairs). We also spent time roaming the lovely city of Milan, which was abuzz with activities related to the annual design event.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out what we found during our expedition. Today, we present you with 10 striking new offerings from Artemide, the popular lighting company based in Milan. The collection includes lamps by such noted designers as Jean Nouvel, Daniel Libeskind, and Karim Rashid. See more!

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Our friends over at Audi (an Architizer A+ Awards sponsor) have teamed up with Marvel Comics to launch a pretty awesome contest. “Steer the Story” invites comic-book fans to draw the final panel of a new Iron Man installation, on steerthestory.com, featuring superhero Tony Stark driving his, you guessed it, sleek new Audi. (Danger and mayhem ensue, naturally.) Participants who submit their own artwork will have their name featured in the final digital-download edition of the “Steer the Story” comic, with US participants getting a chance to win a signed drawing—as well as a trip to Comic Con in San Diego to have their art reviewed by a Marvel editor.

Anyway, we know plenty of you architects would be amazing at this. After all, Bjarke Ingels wrote his own (pretty snazzy) comic book!

So, get drawing, you guys! And go to steerthestory.com for more info.

Image: courtesy of Audi

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