In London this week, a parabolic "death ray" of sunshine—reflected off of London’s newest skyscraper—is destroying luxury cars, starting fires, and frying eggs for comedic effect (oh, England). It’s a sensational story, but this isn’t the first time an architectural laser has literally burned the hair off of passersby.
     |
We all love innovative building design, right? And those all-glass skyscrapers that reflect the amazing colors of sky and clouds, those are just great. Martin Lindsay and his car no longer like any of that rot.
At the height of his career as the architect of the Third Reich, Albert Speer was already imagining what his buildings would look like as ruins. In fact, by the mid-1930s, Speer was designing based on “ruin law,” his term for what a building would look like once it decayed. Today, Nuremberg city officials are grappling with whether his works should ever get the chance.
| |
You’d be crazy not to love stark, modern design like the stunning Tangga House
| |
Sadly, Labor Day weekend marks the spiritual end of summer. But don’t fall into the dumps yet, friends. What lies between you and the colder months are both a day off and a some of the best things we found from the realms of art, architecture, and design this week.
| |
If you like the idea of an outdoor wedding, but not the idea of setting up a tent which can be a hassle, you might want to reach out to design studio Qastic. As part of the Connecticut-based firm’s research into the feasibility of using floating structures in its architecture, it created this inflatable helium-filled pavilion for a garden wedding ceremony in New Haven.
| |
There are some competitions that you lose by winning. Like the Darwin Awards, or an Ignobel, a Razzie, or—in the case of the University College London’s brand new £18m student housing block—a Carbuncle Cup, which is awarded annually to the worst building built in Britain.
| |
Labor Day sales can be frightening things indeed, so it’s a perfect time to look at this scary abandoned mall in St. Louis. After 55 years in business, Crestwood Court started closing its stores in 2006, eventually shutting its doors for good last month. Digital artist Dan Wampler photographed the slowly dilapidating space, managing to make everything from Claire’s to Champs look creepy.
| |
Renovations are tricky for museums: You have to protect your permanent collection while keeping ticket sales up, which explains why so many museums close completely or move to new locations rather than repair an existing building. Not so at Munich’s largest art museum, where workers simply built a gigantic scaffolding reconstruction next door.
| |
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
