House in Buzen by Suppose Design Office

Here’s another project from Japanese studio Suppose Design Office, this time a house in Buzen, Japan, where separate structures are connected under a glass canopy. (more…)

Besiktas Fish Market by GAD

Architects GAD of New York, Istanbul and Bodrum have completed a fish market in Istanbul covered by a concrete and steel canopy. (more…)

Town Town by Coop Himmelb(l)au

Austrian architects Coop Himmelb(l)au are to be awarded the Sustainability Award of the 2010 MIPIM Architectural Review Future Project Awards for their tower covered in a folded metal skin, designed for the Erdberg area of Vienna.  (more…)

Oficina Caja de Arquitectos by Carlos Pereda Iglesias and Óscar Pérez Silanes

Spanish architects Carlos Pereda Iglesias and Óscar Pérez Silanes have completed the offices of a bank that was founded by architects for architects in Pamplona, Spain. (more…)

Barbie Continues to Turn Her Back on Architecture

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Following up from our story last week about University of Buffalo professor Despina Stratigakos‘ long-standing movement to get Barbie a career in architecture, it looks like she has more work ahead of her. The ‘I Can Be‘ contest has come to an end and the iconic doll’s new professions are Computer Engineer (good) and News Anchor (blech). Our pals at Curbed LA have some feedback about the loss from both Stratigakos and a spokesperson for Mattel, who said some pretty remarkable things, including this:

“When they imagine Mommy going to work, they think ‘she drinks coffee; she wears a dress to work; she is on the phone all day.’ A professional architect ‘is not in their lexicon.'”

We’d imagine a quote like that will only add fuel to Stratigakos’ fire and yet another architecture push will happen the next time Mattel decides to run the contest. On a positive note, bravo to the members of the Society of Women Engineers, who helped get Computer Engineer chosen (PDF).

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Philadelphia Prepares to Spend $200 Million on Bland Architecture

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And now the exact opposite of love coming, ironically, from the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Inquirer‘s resident architecture critic, Inga Saffron, files this very sad, but also kind of sadly funny, report from a proposal the firm EwingCole gave to local officials for a new Family Court building. The architect “virtually apologized when he presented the design” and about the best the city officials could say about it was “It’s going to be a very utilitarian building.” From a distance, all of this ho-hum attitude paints a funny mental picture (especially if you add some sort of dopey, cartoonish soundtrack), but for those who live in the city, like critic Saffron, it’s understandably infuriating, particularly when you learn that Philadelphia plans to spend $200 million on all that blandness. Her piece gets semi city-specific at times, but even for those of us who live outside Philadelphia will likely recognize that head-slapping, utterly-bewildering defect governments sometimes suffer from when it comes to architecture.

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OceanScope by AnL Studio

Korean designers AnL Studio have completed an observatory made of shipping containers in Songdo New City, Incheon, South Korea. (more…)

The Dovecote Studio by Haworth Tompkins

London architects Haworth Tompkins have inserted a Corten steel artist’s studio into a ruined Victorian dovecote in Suffolk, UK. (more…)

Dieter-Wetterauer-Halle by Böwer Eith Murken

Architectural photographer Roland Halbe has sent us his photographs of a gymnasium in Freiburg designed by German studio Böwer Eith Murken. (more…)

F-White by Takuro Yamamoto

Japanese studio Takuro Yamamoto Architects have completed a small house in Kashiwa, Japan, centred around a rectangular courtyard that has been rotated at an oblique angle to the rest of the building. (more…)