Inspiration: Collections

From chocolate to fire engines and energy, these museums are devoted to the strange and unexpected s ubjects.

“To cross a bridge, a river or a border is to leave behind the familiar, personal and comfortable an d enter the unknown, a different and strange world where, faced with another reality, we may well find ourselves bereft of home and identity.” —Jean-Pierre Vernant You cannot think of land without thinking of water. A bridge…

Wanna see the most amazing purveyor of architecture on eBay? His name is ansky98, and he sells scale buildings for model train sets. These hobbyist replicas can be arranged into a village or town, and resemble the parts of an architectural model. Why are ansky98’s models the best? They are not just firehouses or schools,…

Ice architecture is so hot right now. Its the dead of winter, and the River Torne in northern Sweden is producing some of the world’s finest architecture- and kid-friendly ice. The latest work of frozen art to emerge from the quiet white of the Scandinavian frost is PinPin Studio’s snow maze and playground for the…

I am a sucker for well-designed theme parks, the best of which are surreal utopian worlds that combi ne the gloriously kitschy architectural style of Las Vegas with the airy innocence of a gargantuan candy store. They also put pedestrians ahead of vehicles, are planned with vast stretches of public open space, and include swathes of…

IKEA – having comfortably established itself as the world’s premier purveyor of both budget-fr iendly designer furniture and Swedish meatballs from the same premises – is constantly seeking ways to break out of its enormous blue and yellow boxes, aiming to touch everyday lives with an ever-expanding portfolio of promotional tools and techniques. After going big…

Earlier this week, the Obama administration quietly announced that it is launching a new defense age ncy “to combat the deepening threat from cyberattacks.” Meanwhile, in the last couple of years, the NSA has come under fire for a host transgressions, dubious wiretapping, and ogling your potentially NSFW selfies. Edward Snowden is hiding in Russia for…

Ok, ok, we get it. The earth is heating up at a historic rate. While this seems like boring old fact by now, it will have very real impacts on our everyday lives. To put it in perspective, Climate Central developed this interactive map that charts these effects of climate change and what 1,001 cities…

“A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famou s.” Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s quip perfectly epitomizes the challenges of product design, which share a range of contrasts and commonalities with those faced by architects shaping the built environment. Daniel Libeskind presented his latest foray into…