archdaily

Peter Zumthor chosen for 2011 Serpentine Pavilion

November 2, 2010

Peter Zumthor chosen for 2011 Serpentine Pavilion

Peter Zumthor has been named the architect for the 2010 Serpentine Pavilion in London, having just won the Pritzker Prize in 2009 and Japan’s Praemium Imperiale in 2008.

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Chapel in Tarnów, Poland, by Beton Architects

November 8, 2009

Chapel in Tarnów, Poland, by Beton Architects

This chapel in Tarnów, Poland, is by Marta Rowińska & Lech Rowiński of the firm Beton (photos by Beton) and was completed in 2009. Being a completely non-religious non-churchgoer who really dislikes all the tortured religious iconography and narrative (and could do without the cross), I don’t know why I’m so attracted to all these humble churches (see also here and here) but I think it’s a relief to see a building whose utility is somewhat non-utilitarian and undefinable.

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Categories: design, Uncategorised

Archeotecture

May 20, 2009

Archeotecture

You could almost call these buildings archeotecture, or perhaps archeolitecture, because though all three were built recently, they look and feel profoundly archeological. All of them have the mute, mysterious quality of monumental ancient ruins and they produce – for me, anyway – that weird, quiet, prickling-the-back-of-the-neck sensation you sometimes get when viewing something impossibly old. 

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Categories: design, Uncategorised

Selgas Cano architecture office, by Iwan Baan

May 2, 2009

Selgas Cano architecture office, by Iwan Baan

Selgas Cano is a Spanish architecture firm, and this long glass tube in a little wooded ravine is the Madrid office they’ve built for themselves. The shutters over the clear roof are retractable (see the photo of the pulleys at bottom). 

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Categories: design, Uncategorised