Hang Ten
Hi again. First I’d like to thank everyone who’s recently signed up for the newsletter. I’ll try my best to come through and not disappoint. Also, a big thank you to those who sent links for this week’s newsletter - Erick, Tara, Justin, Richard & Marc. Now let’s get started.
Thirteen Alvar Aalto buildings in Finland are being proposed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites
A few weeks ago I shared a whale-shaped marine observatory in Australia and it looks like there’s another whale-inspired building in the works at a popular whale-watching site on a Norwegian island within the Arctic Circle
On a tiny island in New York’s East River is one of the country’s largest jails, Rikers. As New York prepares to close it, architects are exploring what can be built in its place.
Prison furniture and fixtures are designed with a focus on anti-harm while still fulfilling their original function
San Fransisco workshop is teaching formerly incarcerated people how to make furniture using discarded materials from construction sites
The New York City MTA sparks backlash for saying it removed benches from subway stations to ‘prevent the homeless from sleeping on them’
This is probably a good time to bring up hostile architecture
Meanwhile a city in Germany is providing sleep capsules to protect the unhoused from freezing to death. Although I think their location by a cemetery is a strange choice given how they slightly resemble coffins.
Speaking of cemeteries, here’s an illustrated guide to the gravesites of famous architects
Soon we’re going to be able to use Microsoft’s chat bot to talk with the dead
Why are tech moguls obsessed with building utopian cities?
Saudi Arabia reveals a hundred-mile-long linear city plan
Le Corbusier's Radiant City concept inspires urban planning in The Netherlands
Muji is revitalising old housing complexes in Japan and they look really nice
Ten ways architects are reimagining home design
Photographer Juergen Teller’s six-foot wide skinniest house in London is for sale for $1.3 million
A French home designed by Le Corbusier in the 1920s is for sale
Watch James Cutler talk about how he was just as inspired building an 8 x 10 shed/studio for his daughter as he was designing Bill Gates’ 66,000 square foot home
Cutler also designed this beach house on the Oregon Coast
A mid-century home in Melbourne
Lots of concrete in this minimal house in Sweden
In Mexico, this little concrete holiday home sits in the middle of nowhere
A coastal retreat in Sri Lanka brings Brutalism to a tropical setting
The most controversial architecture style is apparently making a comeback and is about to take over your living room
NYC-based Colony is a community of independent furniture, lighting, textile and object designers
A minimal metal lamp cut from a single sheet of raw metal
How to shop for furniture on Instagram
Two architects turn their NYC apartment into a showroom
High-end furniture designed to hide your weed stash
I hope one day my collection of furniture and objects is as amazing as Isamu Noguchi’s
Artist Duke Riley creates original scrimshaws made from found discarded plastic found on Brooklyn’s beaches in new exhibition
Petition launches to save artifacts of Brooklyn’s Dead Horse Bay ahead of radioactive waste cleanup
Kenyan woman’s startup recycles plastic into bricks that are stronger than concrete
A New York man discovered a secret attic in his home containing a trove of historic photographs including a rare portrait of Susan B. Anthony
NY-based artist KAWS shares his amazing art collection
There’s also a great feature on KAWS in the latest New York Times Magazine
Tickets to the upcoming KAWS show at the Brooklyn Museum have just been released
Revisit the moment Jean-Michel Basquiat was an awkward DJ in a Blondie music video (I also see a young Lee Quinones)
According to Christies, these are the best art documentaries to watch right now
Listen to the MoMA’s love stories from art history
Art history’s most romantic embraces
Several Bauhaus books from the 1920s have recently been translated into English and republished
Printed Matter's virtual art book fair is only two weeks away so register today
Lastly but most importantly, over the past 6 months Ibrahem Hasan has poured his heart and soul into his Love Is Why project whereby 100% of the proceeds will be used to purchase laptops for students of the Brooklyn Democracy Academy in Brownsville, New York. Earlier this year, the students of BDA lost their beloved principal Dez-Ann Romain to COVID-19. She was 36. The project is a curated non-linear storytelling experience with contributions from Black creatives alongside Ibrahem's art and photography, as well as images collected from the public domain. Let's help make life a little easier for these students and purchase the beautiful book or donate on the link above if you can.
Thank you for letting me into your inbox yet again. I leave you with this little gem of a video. Until next time, take care of yourself. And email me at capa@bloodandchampagne.com to talk to me.
Thomas