Josephine Baker schools outside of Paris designed by Dominique Coulon & Associés.

Includes a rooftop playground and hallway hooks for childrens’ coats.

Brazilian-born Jim Nakao is a fashion designer and creative director.  His intricate and architectural paper dresses were displayed at the Paper Fashion exhibition in MoMu in Antwerp, Belgium. At the end of the show, the models ripped themselves out of their dresses (as shown in video).

Coupled with that hair style and crisp make-up, I am sold.

Arnelle Caron and her city inventories.

Berlin.

New York.

Paris.

Montpellier.

Istanbul.

Ah! Look at that light!

(from nuuro.tmblr.com)

I totally dig this architecture+type project by student Lisa Rienermann. A whole new way of looking at buildings from below that I never considered.

Swedish Architects Jagnefalt Milton’s proposal to roll buildings on existing railroads according to seasons or events has been awarded publicly. This projected, titled A Rolling Masterplan, was designed for the Norwegian master plan competition of Åndalsnes.

Black is too often associated with me. Even my bosses made a bet that my Santa hat would be black (the worst part: they were right). Sure, most of my clothes and belongings are black, but it’s not like I like the color itself that much, it’s just that things that are black… look a little more nice. More chic. More serious. And, hell, it matches with everything.

Architecture is about the only thing I haven’t considered applying black to. But recently I’m coming across more and more architectural projects that benefit from black. A few favorites:

Otake House in Japan by Suppose Design Office:

The Centrum Miuzek in Utrecht, Netherlands by Architecten van Mourik built out of recycled plastic planks:

The Urban Diva House by Pasel Kuenzel Architects:

This funky Japanese residence in Saijo by Suppose Design Office:

The Sinus house in Denmark be Cebra Architects:

And even this Victorian home in San Francisco:

LLOVE

LLOVE is an exhibition consisting of guest rooms in Tokyo stemming from the Japanese love hotel concept. Did you know that approximately half of Japan’s sex takes place at a love hotel?

In celebration of 400 years of trade, the LLOVE exhibition brings together Dutch and Japanese design ideas. The brains behind the project is Suzanne Oxenaar, Artistic Director at the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam.

The best part: you can actually stay in one of these rooms!

“Buried” by Yuko Nagayama:

“Llayers” by Richard Hutten:

An undulating mattress by Pieke Bergmans:“Fertility” by Joep van Lieshout:

A rotating bed by Jo Nagasaka:

(photos by Takumi Ota)

Vellum Furniture Competition 7.0

Just over a week ago we had what I consider one of the most exciting events of the year: the Vellum Furniture Competition. Students from Cal Poly’s College of Architecture hand-craft a number of furniture pieces and showcase downtown. Judges are usually local and out of town architects, craftsman, artists, etc. (A couple years ago in my usual brutalist, ugly/beautiful aesthetic submitted this number made of reused steel tubing and keyboards).

Here are a few photos from the event, including the program for the event which I designed this year.

First, a few of the winners:

Two pieces by one designer: the grand prize was a lounge made from a semi’s fender and a lamp from its air vent. Behind it is a coffee table that won a prize, too. The 2nd image is my favorite project from the show: grungy old lockers “re-lined” with new wood, closed with unique new elements, and lights.

A tall bike with a generator so that when you pedal, it lights up the bulb and you can use the typewriter.

This was the outside of the program. Imagine it folded hot dog style.