where to write that novel

coffee bar, designed by jones | haydu, made it into the best of '09 in san francisco magazine as the best place to write that novel

for more info/images on the design of coffee bar, click here

lake tahoe house back online

jones | haydu is very pleased to announce that the house we designed on lake tahoe is back online.

more info here.

reFresh 090713

i have been doing a little research on spiritual space for a project we are working on and came across this nice site (it is called infrastructure for souls, subtitled 'tracing the parallel histories of the american megachurch and the corporate organizational complex')

urban living for animals in leeds

the home project has uploaded to youtube

mackintosh's glasgow school of art still the reigning favorite

one half the world's population lives or works in buildings constructed of earth

planned obsolescence or psilocybin seating: here's a stool designed to biodegrade (with living mushrooms)

a nice collection of steel houses, california modern style

gapminder: unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world.

fast company's ten most creative people in architecture. not my ten, mind you. discuss amongst yourselves and get back to me.

vito acconci is rethinking his studio business model due to the economy. aren't we all? this hints he is closing his architecture side.

the berlin wall gets a makeover

come on steelcase. really? do we need this?

frank buchwald's amazing machine lights

why is there talk of shutting down california's parks due to budget?

F** this, new york - a site that allows the public to upload to a map things that need fixing (thanks, roach)

make your own movie

the top ten architecture of star wars

a render artist for some of the top starchitects debuts his own site

concrete that lasts 16,000 years?

nice article on urban farming

i believe louis kahn said "an artist can make a wheel square. an architect must make it round" kahn was not of the bauhaus

and a dutch cruiser

this has nothing to do with what i normally blog about, but come on.... it is inhaled chocolate

did you know mir-hossein mousavi is a painter and an architect? the last building he designed is shown here

will new mexico get the first spaceport? also here, designed by norman foster (thanks, gong)

for the brutalist on a budget: wallpaper that looks like concrete

how does netflix do it? pretty much by hand

map of the world's resources by country

yet another top ten of architecture, the rock concert

and another... top ten cities in comics

a nice article which disputes the myth that frank lloyd wright had his buildings full blown designed in his head

seriously? bodibeat purports to create playlists that help your workout by synching the music to your movement.

a phenomenal video recorded by fans across the globe through webcams (thanks, cat)

our good friends at odopod have upgraded their sketch application and are featuring a gallery of works people have saved over the years

where to stay in southern france? try cabins that open to the stars with carre d'etoiles

looks like a nice documentary is being made about samuel mockbee and rural studio

snakebit trailer (documentary on samuel mockbee and rural studio)

reFresh 090605

3-2-1 contact. hip hop architecture... smart video with a lot of insider references for architects... for instance the duck

architects have been advocating forever that your surroundings affect feelings and behavior. neuroscientists are backing it up more and more. here's a brief article on the subject in fast company.

urban nouveau was invited to travel to india by an NGO to develop an affordable housing scheme. they chose to do so collaboratively with potential inhabitants. 

need a big wall to project images on, but don't want it to block views? use fog.

eno on utzon

doesn't look so bad until you push the play button. then it's a really bleak version with graphics like missile command. (thanks, doug)

the 100 most creative people in business, according to fast company.

and since #1 is ives, i just decided to point out the inspiration...

got a spare $7.75M? you can buy frank lloyd wright's la miniatura.

ecological surfboards, made entirely out of wood.

architects called out by human rights group for working on exploitative projects. (from lebbeus woods blog)

lou romano includes several of his image boards for the movie "UP"

nice photo collection of old UFO looking buildings in taiwan

a classic.... finn juhl

what happened to obama's office of urban policy?

seriously... this site has been needed for some time now. (thanks, gong)

dr. no's review of the new cooper union building by morphosis.

some nice buildings up there, eh?

this recession is hitting hard. architects are being creative with saving on living spaces. two examples:

convert a closet into an apartment

or... build a room under a pier

a sneak peek into la dogana

approval has been secured for the US' largest solar power plant

a nice interview with alejandro pinol, complete with gorgeous photos

the leaning tower of abu dhabi has reached its halfway point

the high line in new york opens this month. the sundance channel is running a nice series of video stories.

want to feel inspired? check out the finalist videos for the earth awards.

jones | haydu website launch

subtlety at sfmoma

rosana castrillo diaz

has a new piece at sfmoma.

it is 90 feet of white leading visitors from the main building to the new rooftop sculpture garden.

i'm not sure i would call it a painting. maybe the world's flattest sculpture. it plays with texture and reflection. an essay in white, the image changes with the viewer. as you move through the space, the image on the wall changes due to the viewer's angle, the light reflection (or non reflection) bringing forms to the fore or causing them to recede.

i first saw castrillo diaz' work at anthony meier fine arts, and i was struck immediately. tape "drawings" which again weren't drawings or paintings at all, but a flat sculpture of loops of tape... and more conventional pencil drawings of rubber band balls or stacks of paper on end so highly detailed, i imagine it took her over 100 hours to get the shading just right (take THAT napoleon dynamite!) i can imagine the process being one of ridiculous rigor, trance inducing contemplation.

at the meier show, everyone was there for her work. not so at sfmoma. what i witnessed there: her work is such a whisper that many people don't "hear" it. 

so, if you go to the new sculpture garden at the top of sfmoma, be sure to take it to the bridge.