Architectural case studies and material exemplars to spark your creativity and inspire your next project.
M.C. Escher used to do it with his drawings — leaving us bewildered about where those staircases rea lly led, and how those drawings didn’t disrupt the space-time continuum. His drawings are particularly impressive because they were made by hand; these days, architectural optical illusions are far easier to pull off with the aid of computers.…
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…
While art and architecture often find themselves at odds (see: MoMA v. Tod Williams Billie Tsien or Frank Lloyd Wright v. art), Ellsworth Kelly has always been an architect’s artist. “Architects are usually the first people who understand my work,” the abstract artist — and TWBT and Peter Zellner collaborator / well-known Frank Gehry pal…
The house from Pixar’s classic animated movie Up may soon by listed in a property auction, giving yo u the chance to own a little Disney magic… but you may be a little taken aback by its current condition, which is rather worse for the wear compared to to the vibrantly colored, weatherboard-clad gem seen in…
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 stay at the forthcoming Henn-na Hotel of Japan’s Huis Ten Bosch amusement park is going to feel li ke a stroll down the aisles of the Consumer Electronics Show. Charming, multi-lingual robots called Actroids (presumably a portmanteau of “actress” and “android” — not to be confused with an irritating medical condition) will check you in…
What do worms and mirrors have in common? If you’re familiar with Ideas City, the biennial festival that intersperses the area around the New Museum on the Bowery with a series of installations, games, talks, and performances, you might not find this to be an odd question. During its past two iterations, Storefront for Art…
“It is certainly unpleasant and tedious to be confronted day-in, day-out with products which are con fusing, which literally get on our nerves, and with which we cannot relate,” industrial design deity Dieter Rams of Braun once said. In order to steer us away from the creation of such products, he formulated the “10 Principles of…