What do you think of Apple's new Campus 2? It's a 300,000 sq ft spaceship donut equipped for 13,000 employees! Assuming Cupertino gives the greenlight, expect this campus to debut in 2015.
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From Gothic to Guido! Can you imagine what Snooki would have told those priests in the confession booth?! Details and more pix about Evolution Bar found here.
The SeaStead Institute aims to create an ocean city-state by 2015. Scoff if you will, but it is backed by uber-entrepreneurs, Harvard professors & Pay Pal founder Peter Thiel. The criteria? – Has at least 50 full-time residents. – Is financially self-sufficient. – Offers seastead real estate on the open market. – Has de-facto political autonomy. Ummmm, utopia? Or the perfect place to start a cult? Discuss!
Watch this concrete block transform into a luxury home! This "Safe House" is designed for ultimate security with only 1 entrance by drawbridge on 2nd floor. The home becomes encased in bullet proof shell. Crazy. (via my friends at abodograph)
Actually, you can't anymore. They have sold out! SurvivalCondo.com is the brainchild of an engineer who transformed a 1960's missile silo into an underground luxury condo compound to escape "global climate change, fear of terrorism, possible economic collapse, the solar cycle and possible loss of power grid, possible pandemics, civil unrest, and food shortages." Doomsday buyers in Kansas have shelled out $2M for these 1,820 sq ft units! The Rapture is coming!
Heralded as a reinvention of a skyscraper, the new CCTV in Beijing will finally centralize TV studios, offices, broadcasting & production facilities in one place. It's innerestin' and all, but ummmm I dunno, it just looks like a really big staple to me.
In 2008, a modern penthouse w/ cantilever decks was built atop a 5 story World War II concrete bunker in Germany. Talk about a concrete slab foundation!
According to legend, following the passing of her husband from tuberculosis, the distraught Mrs. Winchester sought the counsel of a Boston-area psychic. The psychic informed the widow that her family was cursed by the spirits of everyone killed by her husband's rifles and, in order to appease them, she should move out west and use her considerable fortune to built a giant temple in their honor. She was told that, as long as construction of said temple never stopped, the spirits wouldn't take their revenge by killing her. As such, she bought a plot of land a few miles outside of San Jose and spent the remainder of her life building. (via Huffington Post)
...this would be her property! Hotel "Under The Sea" ain't just a fantasy. It is underway in Dubai aptly named Hydropolis.
 via Ivan Strada This is one of those things some over indulgent fat cat builds just to say they have a helicopter pad on their roof. I'll bet you can count the # of times it's been used on one hand. This is located in the Hollywood Hills (where else?!).
From afar, it looks like a revolving restaurant, don't it? It's both! Looks like a really really really big sterile hospital room. There is one kind of person who would never buy this house. Cocaine addict!
If you are anything like me, you have fantasized about living in a sushi roll. Our dreams have come true with this pre-fab home aptly named California Roll House!
The estate where JFK & Marilyn would allegedly hook up has been hoisted on the market for $12M! It spans 13.5 acres and the stunning, glass-walled main home is an incredible 10,000 square feet. Apparently, the designers built "50 percent of the home out of glass." Damn those 2 were some freaky exhibitionists!
BORÉAL is a Glass-Clad Greenhouse Housing Project in France. It will be a commune for exhibitionists! This would be cool if your neighbor was a hottie. Constant eye candy...but if he a troll, hmmm not so cool. Et moi, j'adore le soleil, but you'd have to wear sunscreen 24/7 inside! Merde!   IKEA is constructing a neighborhood in East London that consists of 1200 rental units & 480,000 sq ft of commercial & creative space. It will be free of cars, IKEA stores & Swedish meatballs. Leave it to IKEA to take on urban planning. It's just a matter of time before they colonize Mars! More big companies should get involved in blighted communities. Go IKEA!
 Us little peons wouldn't know much about such decadent extravagances, but apparently luxury home owners are building elaborate basements under their property. Why, you ask? To bypass development restrictions that limit home sizes above ground (so sneaky!). And to avoid gaudy McMansion accusations from Occupy Movement & jealous neighbors!
 Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, this new Japanese Starbucks is made up of thousands of wooden twigs, toothpicks & chopsticks! I'm amazed Starbucks (the queen of branding) allowed them to veer off their template store. This store does not say coffee. It says French Fries. I realize it is avant-garde and all, but practically speaking, how can you get your coffee without getting splinters & your eyes poked out!  UPDATE: One of my Tweeples sent me this Starbucks in Seattle made of shipping containers! How cool is that. Sustainability!
Thanks Twitter.com@GrantSasek! Winner of the Department of Energy's bi-annual Solar Decathalon in DC is WaterShed! Congrats! Check out the stunning features that aren't only easy on the eyes but also kind to Mother Earth. The one detail that wouldn't fit me is the conference table that converts to bed (Video 0:55). For me, it would be a pain to clear off my big project just to sleep. I'd rather leave all my paperwork on the table and crash on the couch! Nevertheless, I hope this catches on to the mainstream. Going green doesn't mean sacrificing aesthetics. You can indeed be a trendy tree hugger!  listed by Urban Search Realty Attention all architecture freaks! Check out the Heller House, a gorgeous 1897 Frank Lloyd Wright home for sale at $2.5M. It's so easy to fall in love with these historic properties. That old world charm is to die for: the wainscoting, the orate banisters, stained glass windows. But, once the charm wears off, be sure you love it enough to overlook the lead based paint, torqued foundation, drafty windows and don't even think of all the people who have died in it. (yes, I went there!). Old homes are magically nostalgic, but they can also be money pit!  Secret Garage Door Now you see it, now you don't! Nothing ruins the architectural look of a beautiful Victorian gem than a rickety suburban garage door. That is one of the drawbacks of putting in garage parking in really old homes (They didn't have SUV's back then!) Look what this creative owner did to preserve the exterior facade of his house. His automatic garage door seamlessly matches the rest of the building. No more architectural anachronism! Full story here. I'm wildly impresed by Ice Cube's video about celebrated Eames architechts for Pacific Standard Time. It may seem like an odd pairing between hi-brow and low-brow. But hey, aside from being beautifully post-modern, it actually is authentic because before rapping, Ice Cube studied architectural drafting! He not only disects the Eames' work but the video is also an homage (or defense) of Los Angeles, often stereotypes as plastic and fake. Trust me when I say there is a notorious rivalry between both camps: NorCal as the free loving hippie granola crowd and SoCal as the superficial vapid crowd. Living in both SF and LA, I feel like bi-racial kid. I can see both sides. But why all the hateration?! I believe you find your niche wherever you go. If you wanna be crunchy or hipster in LA, then live in Silver Lake/Echo Park. If you wanna be Ken & Barbie in SF, live in the Marina district. Just find your flock! They exist in both places, for reals. "Who are these people who gotta problem with LA? Maybe they just mad they don't live here." - Ice Cube |
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