Architects are frequently accused of living life with their head in the clouds, preoccupied with fan tastical worlds disconnected from reality. Maybe so, but when those worlds are as beautifully illustrated as those in Nir Levie’s “Outskirts Of Vision”, who could blame us? The graphic artist’s epic 220-page novel chronicles young architect Ben’s adventures in a…
In what has become a grand tradition for, the internet turns into a minefield of fake news à la The Onion on April 1st, a.k.a. April Fools’ Day. Here are some of our favorite design-related stories from online publications doing their best one-day Onion impression, complete with hilariously questionable Photoshopping. Image via Hyperallergic (courtesy the…
Google is known for their playful April Fool’s Day pranks and hoaxes. Their first, MentalPlex, was an actual hoax. In 2000, when search engines were still in their formative stages, they tricked people into thinking about what they wanted to search for, and then delivered humorous error messages, like “Error 001: Weak or no signal…
Draw your battle lines, don your skinny jeans, arm yourself with your craft brew of choice — coffee, beer, or kombucha — and charge: this is “Settlers of Brooklyn,” the deliciously knowing satirical board game in which rapid gentrification is the key to social domination in New York City. Check out the provocative promo video…
Even though we’ve grown used to seeing Photoshopped images, this doesn’t mean that docto red photos have lost their ability to unsettle or provoke us as viewers. This is the impetus behind artist Olivier Ratsi‘s “Anarchitecture” series, where familiar buildings are edited into uncanny versions by manipulating colors, textures, and edges to make impossible-looking new skylines.…
If architecture is like frozen music as Johann Wolfgang said, then perhaps Chicago-based power-poppe rs OK Go didn’t get the memo. The walls, floors, ceilings and furnishings in their latest video — a commercial for a sale at Chinese furniture store Red Star Macalline — are constantly on the move, melting and flowing in time with…
When Italian-Spanish illustrator Federico Babina draws architecture, he does not simply draw archite cture. His illustrations radically reimagine his subjects, leaving us with new visions of what the architecture means. Drawing can be productive as a method to arrive at a design, but it can also help us re-interpret built work after it is completed. All…
Far be it for us to call it a trend, but all kinds of new buildings bear an uncanny resemblance to e veryday objects: a can of ham, for example, or a sandwich accoutrement. While you may be sick of looking toward the skyline and seeing the contents of your fridge, you could be open to…
Formal gimmicks in architecture are a fact of life. Many are incidental; no one set out to build a s ky-high pickle, a can of ham, a drunkard’s gaping mouth, or a pair of boxer shorts. But recent trends seem to favor imbuing buildings with regionalist clichés as a form of deeper meaning. These projects aim…