44 Blues
44 Blues
Hello. Lots of fun stuff in this week’s issue, so I’ll get right to it. Thank you, Jen, Mateo, Jody, and Hadi, for your significant contributions this week. If anyone else has any, simply reply to this email and send them over.
The World Around Summit is right around the corner, and this year will be discussing climate change, education, and preservation, as well as their usual highlights of the year's most extraordinary new structures and projects
A new proposal offering Manhattan protection against flooding while also creating new housing suggests expanding the lower part of the island into the harbor
New York definitely doesn’t need a longer Manhattan
In another idea, one entire city block of Manhattan is extracted from the island and shipped elsewhere in the U.S. in exchange for a parcel of land of equivalent dimensions - (I like it.)
The historic Battery Maritime Building, built in Lower Manhattan in 1909, is now a hotel, restaurant, and spa
Central Park Climate Lab launches with a mission to save urban parks
A new documentary follows the massive and ancient trees that sail along the coast of the Black Sea to the private garden of a billionaire
Why are San Jose’s trees disappearing?
The LA Art Show returns this year with a focus on the environment
Architect transforms family house into semi-public, cultural hub in Laos
The Amant Foundation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is the latest addition to New York’s cultural circuit
Late billionaire’s secretive art museum will finally open to the public in NYC
A new public art installation in New York’s Madison Square Park takes on the thorny issues roiling American classrooms
A drone video showcases the exterior of Heatherwick Studio’s 1,000 Trees in China
A secluded house in Poland is dictated by the dense pine forest that it lives in
An off-grid cabin on a Tasmanian island blends discreetly into the scenery
How the A-frame became the new American Dream
An old barn converted into an art studio opens to views of the landscape
An architect's home in Osaka is both modern and traditional
A concrete house in Tokyo is a light-filled fortress with secret gardens
A brutalist home with midcentury elements unfolds on three different levels in Brazil
An early 20th-century minimal residence combines existing elements with contemporary design techniques
A 1970s family home in Oregon gets a well-deserved renovation
A photographer's home in south-east London is an homage to modernist South American architecture
This architect bought a dilapidated property in Greenwich Village nine years ago and gave it a $2.5M renovation
An outdated property becomes a vintage-inspired family home
An old flat in Barcelona has been refurbished
Airbnb is giving away a year-long stay in Sicily’s village of €1 homes
Lucky artists live rent-free in $6M Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn mansion
North Korea’s 105-floor ‘Hotel of Doom’ has never had a single guest in thirty years (seen below)
In 1930, a team of architects and engineers moved an 11,000-ton telephone exchange building without ever suspending its operations or essential utility services for the 600 employees who worked inside
An ode to duck architecture
New construction is not always the answer
A group of brutalist townhomes brings a bit of relief to a Canadian city’s overheated housing market
Explore Ricardo Bofill’s colorful legacy through some of his seminal projects
How Senegal created a spectacular new African architecture
Inside architecture’s wildest conspiracy theory
Architect re-creates the Syria of his memories through miniatures
Singapore-based startup is selling small futuristic-looking homes that can sleep up to a family of four
What is a geodesic dome, and why should I care?
A brief compendium of modernist homes for movie villains with flawless taste
Two Albert Frey–designed homes open during Modernism Week illustrate the architect’s penchant for simplicity, efficiency, and communing with nature
The first design house designed for the metaverse
How video game architecture is speaking to you
Is the metaverse good for the world?
NY-based artist KAWS has a virtual art show in the metaverse, and a real-life one in London with a touch of augmented reality
Banksy mural 'gifted' to East Anglia town has been sold to private buyer after being removed by the owners
Cryptoland runs aground as $12M bid to buy Fiji island for resort falls through
Crypto group shamed for spending $3M on Dune book, mistakenly believing it had acquired copyright to produce NFTs
Dune concept art book kerfuffle is a case of NFT brain
Some people can't see their expensive NFTs because one of the most popular NFT marketplaces is suffering a database outage
Booming NFT art market plagued by mind-blowing fraud
Artists share their frustration over stolen artwork becoming NFTs
Artists say plagiarized NFTs are plaguing their community
Hermès files lawsuit against MetaBirkins NFT-creator for trademark infringement
Indonesian college student becomes millionaire after putting his selfies up for sale as NFTs as a joke
A major NFT operation has taken root in Marfa, and the local artists are all very confused
A bread bun sofa may soon be coming to IKEA
A Belgian artist’s ceramic gods
Archaeologists unearth colossal pair of sphinxes in Egypt during restoration of landmark temple
A small lead sculpture that sat on a family’s crowded mantelpiece for decades turns out to be a rare Henry Moore and may fetch up to $68K
Dutch government agrees to buy Rembrandt painting for $198M—despite connections to tax havens
Early works by Monet are expected to sell for $50M
New book looks at the forgeries, thefts, and manipulations that plague the art world
How does the FBI Art Crime Team operate?
What to see in NYC galleries right now, according to the NYT
Marina Abramovic's instruction cards to reboot your life
Ten ways to have a better conversation
What is design thinking, and why is it so popular?
Creativity can't be forced. Take breaks and zone out to find new inspiration.
How a writer freed up time to daydream
The infinite scroll and social media feeds are proving to be highly debilitating to the average user
Tsundoku: The art of buying books you can't possibly read
That’ll bring this week to a close. Thank you for being a reader of the newsletter and for passing it along to friends. I’m eternally grateful. Now, I’m going to get started on the stack of books I have to read.
Thomas