While looking for photos of 60s/70s stalactite and fantasy cave ceilings, I unexpectedly discovered that sculptural geometric and prism ceilings first appeared in the 12th century in Persia – probably due to increased skill with locally available gypsum plaster – and spread throughout the Islamic world and then beyond.

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Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Noormarkku, Finland, built between 1937 and 1939 as a rural retreat, is considered one of the greatest houses of the 20th century. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who curated a major retrospective of Aalto’s work at the Barbican in London in 2007, says photographs give no real sense of Aalto’s buildings.

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I love this art object/piece of furniture by artist Fia Backstrom, who has had a number of exhibitions in Vancouver. From the NYT article “Artful Lodgers“:

Fia Backstrom describes her apartment near the Gowanus Canal as a perpetual battle between organization and chaos.

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