filigree

73rd & Broadway.

(image by: vivien chin)

romanesque + byzantine + urban

Passing St. Bartholomew’s Church on East 51st & Park Ave while leaving a meeting yesterday. Romanesque and Byzantine style amongst mass urban-ness. Hear the interior is beautiful. Will check out one day.

(images by: vivien chin)

fire fire fire station

Fire station on West 83rd St.

(image by: vivien chin)

peeking empire

The Empire State Building as I head home from work.

(image by: vivien chin)

framing a classic

Framed moment of the Chrysler Bldg and Grand Central Station as I walk back from a meeting today. Lovely.

(image by: vivien chin)

bridging harelbeke

Bridging to halves of Town Hall of Harelbeke in Belgium by Dehullu & Partners.

 

(image from dezeen)

 

curls

Amazing ceiling finish and light fixtures at a restaurant in DUMBO at 108 Jay Street.

 

(image by: vivien chin)

8 spruce street_gehry

Gehry-designed residential tower near Ground Zero.  The back is so flat…

 

(images by: vivien chin)

graphical circles

Really smart facade treatment with 2 sizes of standard tubing with intersecting flat bars. Easy retro feel. Located in the East Village I believe.

(image by: vivien chin)

keys x infinity

A really intense facade made of keys-appropriate for a locksmith.

(images by: vivien chin)

moving day

In 1886, a contractor in Los Angeles claimed he could move the Fort Moore High School by hoisting it on top of scaffolding and use people, rollers, and horses to slowly migrate it to its new location. It unfortunately proved to be too difficult and had to be lowered back to the ground midway through the move. I wish they left it on the scaffolding. These are really great images.

(images from bldgblog)

baffles and bastions

These approaches for baffled entryways really should be implemented more often. In particular, Serpentine and Labrinthine. I will have to start implementing these in designs.

An image excerpt from “Baffles and Bastions: The Universal Features of Fortifications” by Lawrence H. Keeley, Marisa Fontana, and Russell Quick.

(image from bldgblog)

bridging

Near Madison Square Park…

(image by: vivien chin)

climbing wall_nendo

Very Alice in Wonderland-like.  Nendo designed this climbing wall at the new Illoiha Omotesando fitness club in Tokyo.

I would love one of these for myself!  Now where to find the room for it…

(images from dezeen)

rooftop cube

Spotted this nice project yesterday walking from Chelsea Market somewhere on 15th or 16th st. between 8th and 9th ave.

(image by: vivien chin)

metropol parasol_j mayer h

Latticed, timber canopy as part of the Redevelopment of the Plaza de la Encarnacíon in Seville, Spain. Houses farmer’s market, bars & restaurants, archaeological museum, etc.

So many of my loves in one: Spain, public spaces, timber construction…

(images from dezeen)

switch_sliding walls_yuko shibata

 

Enjoying the kinetic nature of this project by Yuko Shibati called “Switch”.  Sliding and pivoting partitions make simple, elegant changes to this very basic room.  Bookshelf pivots to uncover the bed and wall partitions slide to create smaller functional spaces for dining or working.

 

(image from: co.design)

stairway to…

So yellow! Stumbled upon this at Van Alen Books when walking around the city.

(image by: vivien chin)

sosno art gallery

Gallery based on Sculptor, Sosno’s,  ”la paille dans l’œil du voisin”  (above bust speared with a wood member).  Design by Rytis Daukantas.  Location: Nice, France

 

 

(images from: design boom)

herzog & de mueron_40 bond st_nyc

(images by: vivien chin)

“rolling through the bay”

35 yrs and over 100,000 toothpicks later you get….A Rube Goldberg machine of SF by artist Scott Weaver. Pretty cool.

Thanks moi for the find!

spring beginnings on the highline

Tiny bit of spring is peeking out on the Highline. Tried to take in a little bit of sun in the cold weather while Andy and Lori visited this weekend. Also featured in the pics: Deric, Jeff, Laura, and Nick. Justin and Ben were out on the Highline with us that day as well. Dim sum + Highline + chocolate milk + good friends = great day!

(images by: vivien chin)

quadratura

Beautiful installation using light and architecture.

Here’s the description from the artist, Pablo Valbuena’s, website:

“Site-specific installation. Matadero Madrid. ES. 2010. Video projection on architecture.

Quadratura was the technique used in the baroque to extended architecture through trompe l’oeil and perspective constructions generated with paint or sculpture.

The site-specific installation presented at Matadero Madrid follows the same principles but manipulating space by means of projected light. The main axis of the room of Abierto x Obras is extended and the limits of the physical space dissolved.”

(images from Pablo Valbuena’s site)

aesop saint-honoré_march studio

Ash timber planks from Australia compose this Aesop Skincare store in Paris by March Studio.  I’m a sucker for highly detailed projects using timber like this.  Beautiful.

 

(images from dezeen)

the spring stair

My favorite stair vestibule as I walk down Spring Street, SoHo

(image by: vivien chin)

i PASSED!!!!!

Was ecstatic as I opened my mail and found I’d passed my first ARE test!  I even did the eye cringe thing as I slowly opened the letter hoping I didn’t fail…haha.  1 down, 6 more to go.  License here I come.  Good way to start the week.

 

(image from web)

flying house

National Geographic flies a small version of the UP! house across a California desert by attaching 300 weather balloons 8 ft in diameter and filled with 1 tank of helium each.  The house flew up to 10,000ft in the air with 2 pilots.  Pretty awesome.

Thanks moi for sending me the find!

 

(images from National Graphic Channel.  Original article here)

the waterhouse @ south bund_nhdro

Old Japanese army headquarters turned boutique hotel in Shanghai by NHDRO. Corten steel + exposed concrete…love.

(images from Dezeen)

creeping colors

Loving the way the greens, oranges, and reds are climbing up the facade. Whimsical…

(image by: vivien chin)

counting to something….

Passed by this at the intersection of John St. & Water St. (?) in Wall Street area. What’s it counting up to? First inclination is to say it’s a clock, but not sure how to read it considering it was taken at 9am one day. Mystery….I should just google it

(image by: vivien chin)

everything outside is delicately muted_sukkah city

Global Sand Architekten….

Dave, Hannah, Justin & myself designed this entry for this year’s Sukkah City Competition.  The Competition was to design a “Sukkah”–a temporary structure built during the Jewish Harvest Festival of Sukkot.  The basic parameters are that they: be temporary, have at least two and a half walls, be big enough to contain a table, and have a roof made of shade-providing organic materials through which one can see the stars.  12 were picked and built in Union Square here in NY.  They stood for the last 2 days and the People’s Choice will be the one that remains standing for the rest of the festival.

Design basics: lace cube providing the veil between you and the outside while still having a connection to it,  a small grove of trees that  float above you within metal sleeves, all atop brick ruins.

Our entry wasn’t picked, but I still think it’s an awesome design and had a great time designing it!  The best brainstorming happening over dim sum of course .  You can check out the rest of the entries and winners at www.sukkahcity.com

climbing armani

Found a random stealth shot I took of the underside of the Armani stair on 5th Ave. by Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas (above)

Here’s one from the top found on Arch Daily online. (above)

vitrahaus_herzog & de mueron

Vitrahaus by architects Herzog and de Mueron.  Located in at the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany.  Designed to house Vitra’s Home Collection of furniture.  Exterior covered in charcoal stucco.

Love this project.  Very playful.  Herzog and de Mueron–always love their stuff.

(images from dezeen)

bridge school at pinghe_li xiaodong

Elegant design for a school that bridges the 2 sides of a creek in Fujian Province, China.  Designed by Li Xiaodong, the school is called Bridge at Pinghe.  Suspended from the underside of the school is a secondary narrow walkway that can also be used to cross the creek.  The school has 2 classrooms that can also be used as theaters.  The building also doubles as a spiritual center for the villagers. I really enjoy the simplicity of the design, the attention to detail with the wood slats, steel work, and wood panels.  Very nice.

(images from dezeen)

lad musician nagoya_general design

Love the Lad Musician Nagoya clothing store by General Design.  Located in Nagoya, Japan.  The building interior only uses 3 materials: concrete, oak, and galvanized steel.  I really enjoy the simplicity of the design. The materials and light qualities are stunning.

(images from dezeen)

bldg_furniture & carpets

Really liked this random building in San Francisco on Market Street.  Just noticed the center pivot windows.  Pretty cool feature.

(image by: vivien chin)

sf federal bldg_morphosis

Had a chance to check out the San Francisco Federal Building by Morphosis recently when I was in SF. Interesting to see it in it’s completed state because the last time I saw it was about 4 years ago (give or take) with Fowler’s class at Poly. There weren’t more than 20 floors of the building finished then, but we were allowed to climb up to the top of what was completed at that time. Pretty cool to see what took shape since then. Some detail shots of the building below.

90 7th Street
San Francisco, California

 

(images by: vivien chin)

jewish museum_sf

A glimpse of the outside of the Contemporary Jewish museum by Daniel Liebskind in San Francisco.  Also located nearby is Yerba Buena Park and the SFMOMA by Mario Botta which you can see in the reflection of the glass door in the last image.  There’s a tasty mexican restaurant, Tropisueno, that I met up with Chris, Melissa, Rachel, Oana, and Justin at for lunch.  Sooo good to see you guys!

(images by: vivien chin

BIG_dunny

2 of my loves in one: Dunny’s & Architecture/Art

Danish firm, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), created a piece for a Dunny Show Exhibition in Copenhagen.  Very cool.  I’d live in a Dunny-shaped building.  Awesome.

(images from http://www.big.dk/)

cloisters_the walk

The Cloisters are part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They are located in Fort Tyron park and overlook the Hudson River.  The Cloisters house a large collection of Medieval European Art intermingled with gardens and the architecture of French Cloisters.  To get there you take the A,C,E subway to the 190th street stop and follow the signs towards the Cloisters.  It’s about a 10 min walk from the subway.  I really liked the walk up to the Cloisters as well as the descent (yes there’s a descent, the Cloisters are located on a pretty high hill relative to the street level below).  It was a peaceful and nice park area.  Also got a glimpse of the density of the Northern tip of Manhattan which was pretty incredible.

Density!

The river.

The Cloisters in the distance.

Almost there…going around the side

(images by: vivien chin)