This edition of OtR is overflowing with incredible design, designers, and design events. No better way to kick off a new year than with some highly inspired activity brewing within the creative community. Let us know what’s been grabbing your attention and spinning your wheels these days in the comments section below.

LEARNing
Get familiar with Theaster Gates. Chicago-based artist, designer, cultural change-maker. His time is ripe in Seattle with an ongoing exhibit at the SAM and an upcoming lecture at the University of Washington.

[Image Credit: kavigupta.com]

BUILD’s online presentation of social media for architects and designers is now live. The content is essentially what was presented at Reinvention. Check it out here.
-thanks to Hanley Wood

ARCHITECTing
We recently had the pleasure of meeting the sharp minds over at Dallas-based Shipley Architects.
-thanks to Dan

Arkin Tilt Architects out of Berkeley, California creates sharp, warm, and naturally responsive spaces. Take a look.
-thanks to Rob

Keep tabs on the progress of a modern bungalow in Austin, Texas by Salas Design Workshop llc.
-thanks to Tony

E. Fay Jones-style church designed by BDCM Architects out of Omaha, Nebraska.
-thanks to Kevin

[Image Credit: churcharc.tumblr.com]

This video of Alvaro Siza will inspire you. We wish nothing more than to be this happy and playful when we’re his age.
-thanks to Kelly

For some visual candy, check out the photo gallery of the Lake Lugano House by JM Architecture out of Milan, Italy.
-thanks to Mike

[Image Credit: archrecord.com]

TASTing
Thomas Haas artisan chocolatier from Vancouver, BC knows his chocolate. And his design. A clear focus on design in their packaging, inventive execution of their product, and a well-honed attention to detail elevates their product to meet the high standards of the food-loving architect’s discriminating palate.
-thanks to Terri

TOURing
The Frank Lloyd Wright designed Tracy House is opening up for a public tour, which only comes up every few years. On the heels of a recent write-up in Seattle Met, The EcoHome Foundation is hosting this event on January 21st near Seattle, WA. Tickets are $35. Contact Larry Woodin for details and registration.
-thanks to Larry

[Image Credit: flickr.com/dalydaly]

Our friends Lauren & Kyle did a fantastic job documenting the recent house tour for the Hanley-Wood Reinvention seminar in Phoenix.
-thanks to Lauren

PHOTOGRAPHing
The work of French photographer Thomas Jorion deserves your full attention. It’s worth your while to check out the entire gallery. Haunting, spectacular, elegant work. We’ll leave it at that and let the images speak for themselves.
-thanks to T.s. Flock

[Image Credit: pphotographyb.blogspot.com]

FILMing
Swiss designer Herbert Matter is a name you ought to know.  Matter was a boundary-pusher who redefined the worlds of photography and graphics. And, no surprise, his friends and peers did the same in their spheres: Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollock, Charles and Ray Eames, anyone? The Visual Language of Herbert Matter dives head-first into the work and personality of this pivotal art figure. Icing on the cake: it also provides a fascinating backstory to the life and work of the Eameses, making a fitting, if unintentional, counterpoint to the other recently released design documentary.

We bet you’ve come across the video that was circulating the social media channels (particularly if you are or know an architect…or rapper), but it’s worth another mention. A refreshing take on design and planning from outside the echo-chamber: Ice Cube talks about Eames, architecture, and the sociology of Los Angeles traffic.
-thanks to Chris

BLOGGing
Redefine “cabin fever” with this collection of daydream-caliber cabin architecture.  Browse, dream, and enjoy.
-thanks to Brian

Little Monster blog provides a unique perspective on urbanism from an architectural photographer.
-thanks to Matthew

Some friends of ours in Alberta, Canada recently finished up a blog chronicling the design and construction of their home. We can’t get enough of these modern house blogs.
-thanks to Chris

It’s a tale we’ve all heard before, but perhaps not quite like this. The architect as his own client in The Zabel Project.
-thanks to Steve

TUMBLing
Has anyone else noticed the tidal wave of fun, inspiring, and eye-opening architecture and design tumblrs (and related meta-sites) that are popping up every single day? It’s hard to keep up, but that’s what friends and hyperlinks are for. We recently caught wind of a beautifully-curated one worth multiple pages of scrolling. Fair warning: This site is the channel that will release you a pool of beautiful design tumblrs…which will, in turn, take you down the waterfall of a hundred more. Go, enjoy the ride.
-thanks to Gavin

READing
Who says published works have to be printed on paper, or blasted on the web? The world is a canvas. (Within reason, of course.) The 16th Issue of the quarterly publication, The Thing, challenges old media notions and opens up new horizons for the possibilities of publishing. And, it doubles as a spectacular housewarming gift.
-thanks to Jenny

MAKing
Barcelona-based furniture designer, Kunquad, makes some sleek and playful chairs. It’s hard to choose favorites, but we’re particularly fond of the wood chairs.

Lately, we’ve been dabbling in some screen-printing on the side. Keeping it minimal, modern, and monochrome. Want your very own? Follow us on twitter for details on the giveaway.

Cheers to the New Year, Team BUILD.

We’ve had some great winter-time cheer come across our desks at the BUILD World Headquarters lately and we thought we’d share; after all, it’s the holidays.

CONSTRUCTing
Deviating from a mere competition for the best snow-person sculpture, each year in January, Breckenridge, Colorado hosts the International Snow Sculpture Competition. The event attracts ambitious artists who aren’t satisfied with making just an average snow fort. These large scale sculptures showcase the unique and ephemeral medium of high country snow and ice, producing some stellar results.

[Image Credit: flickr.com/hawbone]

There’s no municipal code requiring gingerbread houses to be constructed with pitched roofs and candy cane groves. That we know of. The Gingerbread Villa demonstrates clean lines, straightforward use of materials, and a seamless transition between interior and exterior living spaces. Plus a roof garden and deck.

[Image Credit: flickr.com/sahafoto]

DECORATing
Seattle’s famous Candy Cane Lane is a popular stop on the holiday lights tour in the city, with cars lining up to see the stretch of homes illuminated with holiday cheer.

[Image Credit: santaphotos.com]

Homeowners outside of the limits of this block, however, sometimes choose to make their own mark, becoming a singular destination. Aesthetic leanings aside, there’s no arguing the sheer marvel of the feat: setting up (and taking down) this scale of lawn theater. And in case you were wondering, there is, in fact, music and animatronics involved.

[Image Credit: flickr.com/sahafoto]

On a larger, and more public scale, we’ve noticed numerous construction cranes festively donning a variety of colored lights here in Seattle. There’s a significant amount of construction going in all parts of the city, and most of the sky-high cranes have chosen to illuminate the winter sky with festive colors.

ORNAMENTing
Now that you’ve set up your Modern Christmas Tree, it needs appropriate adornment. Recent years have brought forth designers thinking outside the limits of the traditional globe ornaments. The offerings these days for well-designed holiday ornaments are ample.

[Image Credit: houzz.com]

Metal ornaments by Melissa Borrell have been out for a while. These laser cut pieces make for a sharp addition to your holiday palette.

[Image Credit: apartmenttherapy.com]

COUNTing
Simultaneous with the winding down of one year comes anticipation for the start of the next. We’ve been seriously impressed by the creative and crafty calendar options  that are reinterpreting how we keep track of our days. We showcased a few in our recent Gift Guide, and Design Milk has done a great job of culling a selection that runs the gamut: wall art, desk pieces, booklets, and various multi-dimensional works, Along with some classics, of course.

[Image Credit: designmilk.com]

[Image Credit: designmilk.com]

IMBIBing
Cold weather and countless social events during this season offer more than a few opportunities to test out the selection of festive beverages out there. Here are a few options worth checking out, covering the three major drink groups: wine, beer, and cocktails.

Swedish glögg, or any variation of mulled wine is sure to get you warmed up this season.

[Image Credit: amazingribs.com]

For those who lean more towards refreshing brews, winter opens the door to a festive collection of seasonal brews. Clever labels and all.

[Image Credit: 20prospect.wordpress.com]

For the party host with a bend toward cocktails, there’s a recipe for what sounds like a pretty incredible seasonal punch, brainchild of Jamie Boudreau of Canon:

Dementia Pugilistica (Xmas Punch 2007)
1 bottle Remy Martin VS cognac (or other good brandy)
¼ bottle maraschino liqueur
¼ bottle St. Germain elderflower liqueur
3 bottles Duval-Leroy Rose Champagne (or other good dry Champagne)
10 dashes Angostura bitters
15 dashes peach bitters (if available)
2 blood oranges, sliced
take a large metal bowl and fill with water
place bowl in freezer until frozen
lay bowl in a sink of hot water until ice can slide out
place huge ice dome into a punch bowl
pour all other ingredients into punch bowl
stir and serve

[Image Credit: spiritsandcocktails.wordpress.com]

Happy Holidays, Team BUILD

Our latest round-up of inspiring links culled from our readers, friends, and in-house team.

ARCHITECTing

Check out the noteworthy work of JSa out of Mexico. Javier Sanchez has a background in both architecture and real estate. We’re happy to see a growing presence of architects in real estate development.
-thanks to Prentis

More on the guys at el dorado inc. We had the pleasure of lecturing with them at Reinvention in Phoenix this week.
-thanks to Doug

We really enjoyed checking out the work of JLC Architecture recently. These guys are in the trenches doing real work for real people. We also dig their method of diagramming.
-thanks to Tyler

M. Gerwing Architects out of Colorado run a nice design blog that you should check out. The regularity of updates on it communicates to us that they’re passionate about design and are on top of their game.
-thanks to Mark

LEARNing

A quick and dirty resource for cross-referencing data for remodeling projects across the U.S.  Just released by Remodeling Magazine.
-thanks to Larry

The modern urban beehive. We’re fans of the urban-natural hybrid.
-thanks to Shaney

FILMing

If you didn’t catch the Earth | Time Lapse View from Space video yet, prepare for a treat.

Check out this well-crafted video about sweat, blood, tears and community.
-thanks to Donald

A Plea For Modernism makes a compelling argument to restore the Phillis Wheatley Elementary School in the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans.

MAKing

Chris Sauter’s The Whole World exhibit is clever, very clever.

With the holidays rapidly approaching, there has likely already been the inevitable avalanche of overly-decorated glittery and/or musical Christmas cards in the mail. For the design-conscious, however, nothing communicates deliberate appreciation and warm greetings like a well-designed, concise card. One of our favorite designers is Ioana Urma who’s created a very pleasing language of cards.

Explorations in landscape, sculpture, and scale by Mehmet Ali Uysal in the Levent Des Foret.
-thanks to Flandish

The Fade Out Chair by Japanese outfit Nendo executes a trompe-l’oeil with simplicity and wit.
-thanks to Andre

SUSTAINing

Artefact’s 999 bottle for running the numbers on your personal tally of plastic bottles saved. The companion app is a nice touch, providing you with your very own data visualization for added gratification.

LECTURing

We’re big fans of lectures that get to the point. Recently, we brushed up on Guy Kawasaki’s 10-20-30 rules and we highly recommend getting familiar with his concepts.

COMMUNICATing

Check out MS&R Ltd. out of Minneapolis. Their work is top-notch, and their like-minded approach to initiating the conversation about best practices and raising the bar in Design is right up our alley.
-thanks to Justin

SURFing

Collective eye candy at The Fancy.
-thanks to Aaron

While admiring the smart design work on the Dubai Metro campaign, we obligingly followed the trail and stumbled upon Aaron’s tumblr of Aaron and Will. It’s just the right mixture of inspiration and humor.

TRAVELing

It’s no secret we’re big fans of Scandinavian design and travels. The sharp hotel concept in Copenhagen, STAY, came across our radar recently and we officially dig it.
-thanks to lolodel

PHOTOGRAPHing

For those sharp shooting iPhone users out there, try the new iPhone Dial Lens to pimp out the camera features on your mobile device.
-thanks to sgeorgiou

DINing

We’re no strangers to food truck culture out here in the Northwest. But we’ve noticed the wave has been hitting the rest of the nation pretty hard in the past couple years. Currently, we’ve been informed of the scene in Denver, Colorado. One up-start, Pomfreet, is the brainchild of a couple of architects, no less. Bring on the frites and skewers…
-thanks to Chris and Ben

The restaurant scene in Seattle is pretty tough to keep up with, particularly these days. But we always try to keep our feelers out for new and noteworthy spots to explore and share. A few places we’ll be frequenting in the coming weeks (if not already) include: Belle Clementine for their family-style communal dinners, Canon for skillfully hand-crafted cocktails, and Bar Ferd’nand Coffee for house-made pastries paired with locally roasted beans. Which reminds us, it’s high time we post up another TML Seattle.

Hit the comments and let us know what’s been on your radar.

For more design talk follow us on Twitter.

While we’re architecting, building and blogging we come across a ton of inspiring work. It could be anything from a sleek diagram to a great book. If it makes us tick, we tuck it away for our OtR series. We also get a lot of awesome recommendations from our design tribe. Here’s some stuff that been getting our gears spinning lately.

[Photo courtesy of lovenordic]

DESIGNing
CityFabric aims to engage people in conversations about their cities and we think their wall hung artistic maps are a great start.
-thanks to Nicole

We find this series of film bowls by Brian Jewett fascinating.
-thanks to Brian

We’re big into biking around here and our buddy Donald just ordered himself up a hot piece of cycling design from the hot-shots over at R&E Cycles.
-thanks to the Donald

We recently came across the work of Hank Nelson who keeps a massive sculpture garden just north of Seattle on Whidbey Island. We’re already pulling strings to try and work a tour.
-thanks to Jerry

The Apple logo updated with the silhouette of Steve Jobs’ profile is one of the most powerful icons we’ve seen in a long while. The simple yet clever graphic is the work of sharp-shooter Raid71.

ARCHITECTing
Speaking of Steve Jobs, his unbuilt private residence was recently released and the plans (designed by BCJ) are fascinating and very telling of his design philosophy. You can expect a full blog post on this house at some point.
-thanks to Gizmodo

We’ve been in touch with our friends over at Kaplan Thompson lately and their work continues to raise the bar. Check out their commitment to sustainability for some clear, inspiring thinking.
-thanks to Jesse
The basics: build smarter and smaller, and carefully re-use the buildings that our ancestors built with their enormous effort and energy.

We’ve been inspired by the warm modernism of Dietrich + Untertrifaller Architekten lately. A tour of their work is always a refreshing confirmation of how good design can benefit the built environment.

BLOGGing
Project Massena Modern is a design & construction blog tracking the progress of our Bellevue residence, currently being built. The owners have a sharp eye for modernism and an admirable passion for design. Follow along and check out every stage of a smart modern home.
-thanks to Jay

Check out the lovenordic design blog for some fresh clean design
-thanks to Brandon

Oh, this is some nice visual candy
-thanks to Angela

SPEAKing
BUILD is lined up to speak at this year’s Reinvention conference this December in Phoenix. We’ll be giving the scoop on design-build for our first lecture and we’ll be discussing social media for architects and designers at the second. For info and tickets, go here.

Seattle’s Space.city continues to put together inspiring evening lectures on architecture and design; on top of that they’re usually held in the Seattle Public Library. Keep an eye on these guys for some of the best speaking engagements in the Pacific Northwest.
-thanks to Brian

We’ve been pretty dang amazed with Siri (the voice activated iPhone assistant) and her quick witted responses. If you’ve got an iPhone 4, you’ll get a kick out of STSS blog.
-thanks to Aaron

INNOVATing
The new Tesla Model S is not only drop-dead gorgeous, but it’s taking electric cars to the next level. The battery cells have a 300 mile range and are also used structurally to add rigidity to the cars undercarriage. With companies like GM still clanking away on this poop sandwich, Tesla is killing their competition.
-thanks to Ramiro

READing
We’re reading the full range of books lately, inlcuding: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis, Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, It’s Lonely in the Modern World by Molly Jane Quinn and Jenna Talbott, The Power of Less by Leo Babauta, and the ARE Study Manuals (poor Duff)

DIAGRAMMing
Gapminder is incredible. If you have even the slightest inkling of data geek in you, you’ll want to watch this vid.
-thanks to Angela

SELLing
The Magnolia house that BUILD substantially remodeled years ago is on the market. It’s a great mid-century modern with all the 21st amenities.  Oh, it’s also got an in-ground trampoline.

DEVELOPing
We’re big fans of architects that break out of the mold and develop their own projects. Check out the Kapela project by SD-squared in San Diego. It’s a great example of architects thinking on many levels; it also looks like a very cool place to live.
-thanks to Zac

Let us know what’s inspiring you lately…

BUILDblog Senior Correspondent Josiah Johnson has yet again put together an exciting list of hot and modern links for the Fall.  Where does this guy find the time to track down all these links?

DESIGNing
Now not only can we grill faster, we can get to the picnic faster with these well-handling speedy BBQ’s. Check out these grills by Brennwagen.

Check out these beautiful sculptural pieces for your home by Quarterre Products. They also double as bike racks.

FILMing
This is an amazing video of Manhattan seen through time lapse by Mindrelic.

And here is another one of “The Arctic Light” by TSO photography

INNOVATing
Where do you go to swim when it is hot in Manhattan? How about a pool floating in the East River? This is the Plus Pool, a theoretical project gaining funding to become a reality.

Then where do you go when you want more open space in Manhattan?  How about underground.  The cleverly named Low Line makes use of the abandoned trolley tunnels on the Lower East Side.

[rendering by Raad Studio]

ARCHITECTing
Check out this rooftop deck by Graftworks Design Research  in Greenwich Village

Not only is the work of Studio MK27 stunning, but their website is pretty slick too.

This is a beautiful pre-fab home located in Nevada by Nottoscale architects. The location for this house was so remote it was actually pre-fabricated five hours away in Reno, Nevada.

[photo by Joe Fletcher]

For some nice work  down under, check out Peter Stutchbury Architects.

Nord is creating some beautiful crisp, clean modern work out of Europe.

And here are your modern architects out of the Hamptons. These guys have a unique modern style all of their own, Stelle Architects

Lend your eye balls to Austin Texas’ Andersson-Wise for a moment and check out their house sided with firewood.

Thomas Phifer & Partners is at it with some clean modern lines.

And last but not least a flickr stream from Chu e Kato of a very unique apartment in Sao Paulo. Don’t just glance over this one, there are some very hot hidden details.  Click here for their full flikr stream

Cheers and Happy Fall from team BUILD and Josiah.

It’s been a bit since we did an OtR post and we’ve got some cool links stacking up here at the BUILD World Headquarters; here’s all the stuff we’ve been looking to for inspiration lately.

DESIGNing
The “apple bowl” dish design by Grant Achatz for restaurant Alinea in Chicago is brilliant
-thanks to Corby

We’re big fans of the quiet, abstract, meditative environments that Miya Ando creates.
-thanks to Jerry

For some simple, clever and useful design, head on over to Ameico. The uber-versatile Smith is many things, and anything but boring.

Finally! Some cat toys that don’t look like carpet clad spec homes.
-thanks to Anson

The designers over at Geneva audio systems have figured out a nice compliment to the iPod.

The Modu-licious Desk(ette)s from Blu Dot  are clean, simple and powder-coated – just the way we like them.

These well-designed fire extinguishers will have you looking for excuses to use them. “Accidentally,” of course.

If you only buy table lamps that are 97% recyclable, this is the one for you. On top of that, the Brazo Table Lamp features an energy efficient light source and extreme adjustability.

On the other hand, if classic look and feel is your thing, check out the Jielde Signal Lamp.

The top minimalist watch around.

ENGINEERing
We recently had an opportunity to work with the hot-shots over at HSV Engineers. It was a tight deadline, extremely short notice and HSV delivered. Give these guys (and gals) a shout the next time you need to get some brains and muscle behind your projects.
-thanks to Julie

[Architecture by E. Cobb Inc., Photo by Paul Warchol]

ARCHITECTing
If you’re as much of a Carlo Scarpa fan as we are, you we delighted to hear that the Olivetti showroom in Venice’s Piazzo San Marco has recently been painstakingly refurbished. The shop now has its original appearance and Scarpa can rest peacefully.
-thanks to Brian

We’ve been checking out Studio Mumbai lately; the work is striking, raw and authentic.
-thanks to Billie

This rammed earth home by Dust Design Build caught our attention for its crisp design and beautiful documentation.
-thanks to Nicholas

Very few individuals have the passion and drive to not only remodel their home themselves, but beautifully document it all from beginning to end. That’s exactly what Lauren and Kyle Zerbey have done with their Chezerbey blog. After a long day of manual labor (or womanual labor) it takes a lot of discipline to get nice shots and document it all in a blog post -but the Seattle couple has been steadfast with their coverage, give them your eyeballs for a bit will ya.

INNOVATing
What was once the realm of dedicated craftsmen has been made widely available thanks to Bolefloor.
-thanks to Brian T

EXHIBITing
Zimoun builds fascinating explorations into architectural sound.
-thanks to John

The animated sculptures of Bernard Reyboz are downright mesmerizing.
-thanks to Andrée-Anne

Jason deCaires Taylor has created a fascinating series of underwater sculpture parks and a great excuse to holiday in Cancun.
-thanks to Jerry

Northwest Fine Woodworking in Seattle’s Pioneer Square is currently having its 3rd annual Rising Star Show. In addition to some stellar pieces, there’s also a couple of our SPD works in the mix.

PHOTOGRAPHing
A 5,000 megapixel photo of the entire night sky stitched together from 37,440 exposures
-thanks to Greg

DIAGRAMMing
30 years of the space shuttle were beautifully diagrammed and posted by NPR.

-thanks to Janvin and Gizmodo

This delightful diagram highlights a number of our favorite drinks. The Zombie, for instance, is the only thing one of our designers drinks while vacationing.

BLOGGing
Seattleite Lou Maxon has been doing a stellar job documenting the design process (and eventual construction) of his new modern home outside of Seattle. Dwell has picked up the coverage and you can check out all the action here.
-thanks to Lou

PROMOTing
We’re big fans of well presented online portfolios up-to-date with forward thinking work. Check out the work of Richard Rano for a very good example.
-thanks to Rich

The University of Washington department of architecture recently started a blog and it’s a great way to stay connected with the hot-shots coming up the ranks,  check it out here.
-thanks to Eryn

LISTENing
We’ve had some very addicting tunes pumping at the BUILD World Headquarters lately. Try some of this out (from left to right): Death Cab for Cutie’s “Codes and Keys”, REM’s “Collapse into Now”, Made in Heights’ “Winter Pigeons”, Thievery Corporation’s “Culture of Fear”, and Son Volt’s “American Central Dust”.

cheers, and let us know what’s been inspiring you lately…

DESIGNing
The Pantone Hotel in Brussels, seven floors each designated a different color to match your mood.

The QuaDror is just plain brilliant. It’s everything that innovative, effective design should be, check out the vid here. Hats off to Studio Dror.

The work of Margaret Fletcher is subtle and calming, we’re big fans.
-thanks to Margaret

ARCHITECTing
One of the greatest examples of architectural expressionism is complete with its $20M renovation and on the market to potential hotels. Check out the brand-spanking new images of the TWA Terminal here.
-thanks to Tony

Check out the new 60,000 square foot Museo Soumaya in Mexico City by Fernando Romero. There’s also some dang cool construction pics here.
-thanks to Hugo

The work of Dietrich and Untertrafalier continues to inspire.
-thanks to Todd

Take a quick architectural tour of Norway.
-thanks to Brian T

It’s difficult to tell where bending the rules ends and deception begins. The New York Times does a great job describing the situation of Brooklyn based architect Robert Scarano.
-thanks to Andrew Rice

CONSTRUCTing

The Four Hour Chair was developed by Swedish design student Dag Elfgren. In his own words:
I’m a Swedish student and as my senior year project I’ve designed a chair that anyone can build in less than 4 hours using materials worth $25. The purpose of the project is to show that you can build personal and functional furniture, spending the same amount of time and money as you would do if you were to go to a big furniture chain and buy the same chair as everybody else. The result is called The Four Hour Chair. It’s inexpensive, easy to build and made out of MDF.
More photos and a builders manual is available for free here.
-thanks to Dag

We’re not sure if this work is pure genius or if it’s simply a case of having too much cardboard around without enough to do. We’ll let you be the judge.
-thanks to Jerry

It doesn’t get much more sustainable than Patrick Dougherty’s nest houses.
-thanks to Jerry

EXHIBITing
As part of Palm Springs’ annual celebration of all things midcentury modern, the Palm Springs Art Museum is hosting “Steel and Shade: The Architecture of Donald Wexler”.
-thanks to Dot

PHOTOGRAPHing
We’re really digging these tumblr blogs for their pure visual delights

The image below was taken in New Zealand’s Christchurch just moments after the earthquake on February 22nd.
-thanks to James

DIAGRAMMing
The City Forward site graphically documents all things urban; traffic, crime, employment, water usage, etc. The site takes advantage of publicly available data about metropolitan areas and turns it into visually comprehendible information. Brilliant.
-thanks to Kevin

We love seeing technology being used to share information, techniques and knowledge. Brian O’Reilly over at Via Architecture is posting a three part tutorial on how to create an attractive site plan using hand drawing and Photoshop. We’re on board.
-thanks to Jen K.

BLOGGing
Check out We Are Design Bureau for your dose of cutting edge design.
-thanks to Jessica

SELLing
Steven Holl’s Stretto House is for sale and apparently if you have to ask how much, it’s out of your league.

PROMOTing
We continue to see some very nice examples of self-promotion from recent architecture graduates. The smart ones know that showing inspiring design and a clean, easy to navigate interface, is going to produce results. And they’re right, lend your eyes to Cassie Hibbert’s site for a few minutes.
-thanks to Cassie

BROADCASTing
The Plan is a weekly design talk show on Radio Adelaide – discussing all things architecture, environment and affect. They interview all kinds of cool design-types and they’ve got some good video clips up on their site.
-thanks to Martin

QUOTing
…our favorite quote lately:
If you want to succeed, double your failure rate
-Thomas J. Watson, president of IBM from 1914-1956

CLOTHing
We’ve notices that e-tailors are on the rise. The Mr. Porter site especially caught our attention for its design forward appeal.
-thanks to York

FILMing
Ayn Rand’s follow-up to The Fountain Head, Atlas Shrugged, is soon to be released as a film, validating a decade of rumors. Check out the clip below.
-thanks to William

For more design banter follow us on Twitter

BUILDblog senior field correspondent Josiah Johnson thought we oughta kick off March in style. So he put together this scorching list of links aimed at the hearts and minds of the design conscious. Enjoy, and a huge thanks to Josiah.

ARCHITECTing
Just looking at Maison L gives us a heightened sense of curiosity and wonder.

The work of Nature Humaine brings modern to the brown-stone housing type. Check out the Congregation Residence and St. Hubert and admire the slick interface while you’re at it.

Check out the clever work of Vanden Eeckhoudt Creyf Architects out of Bruxells.

How ‘bout some more hot architecture from the architects in Belgium, like AABE.

And as long as we’re discussing northern Europe, why not swing by Holland and take in some forward thinking design from ZECC.

Get your fix of hot Brazilian architecture with this ultra slick office space and par-tay house by Studio MK27.

PHOTOGRAPHing
The disassembly series by photographer Todd McLellan is absolutely wonderful. It reminds us of being kids and taking stuff apart to figure out how it works.

What we love most about the work of Rasmus Norlander is his ability to bring wonder to everyday scenes.

Between the 1950’s and the 1980’s Circle K built thousands of architecturally identical retail shops around the country. In the 1990’s the company filed for bankruptcy, leaving these building shells vacant. Since then, they’ve been occupied, remodeled, adapted and transformed into just about every sort of retail function imaginable. Photographer Paho Mann has done an extraordinary job documenting many of them in his Circle K gallery.

FILMing
Influencers is an interesting little documentary film about who’s influential in our culture and why.

TRAVELing
A vintage trailer, yurt and teepee hotel and campground located in Marfa Texas, check out El Cosmico.

DESIGNing
Artist Slinkachu makes extremely small and playful art in public spaces.

Heard about BOOM? It’s a supergroup of architects taking strategies for community living beyond the think tank, and putting words into action in the California desert. It’s a socially progressive township unlike any we’ve ever seen and you should get yourself familiar with it.

INNOVATing
Inventables is the innovator’s hardware store, they sell materials that designers, artists, and inventors use to develop new products and push the boundaries of what’s possible.

PUBLISHing
More design books than you’ll ever be able to wrap your head around at Designers and Books.

Cheers and happy MARCHing from team BUILD and Josiah…

You know the drill, the OtR post is what we’ve been researching and coming across lately. A lot of it has been sent to us by blog readers who want to stay involved. Much of the work influences us and inspires us…

ARCHITECTing
JSA out of Norway is doing some stunning work; check out their Juvet Landscape Hotel and the Mortensrud Church.
-a big huge thanks to eyecandy

Check out Battersby Howat out of Vancouver B.C. for some warm Pacific Northwest modernism.

Our friends over at Patano+Hafermann Architects just completed the very handsome Casa Z on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill. Nicely done Chris and Laura.
-thanks to Chris

The Catskill Mountain House caught our attention for its clean lines and its unclutteredness. It was designed by the extremely talented Audrey Matlock.
-thanks to Edition 29

We’re big fans of the Houl House by Simon Winstanley Architects out of Scotland. It’s simple, disciplined and light filled.
-thanks to modresdes

Smith + Tracy Architects out of Australia are doing a fantastic job of bringing modernisms to a range of project types (including retirement living). Big kudos.
-thanks to Ramiro

We had a chance to check out the Northwest Corner Building on the Columbia Campus the last time we were in New York. It’s finally complete and this glowing gem is the new connection between Columbia and Morningside Heights. Hats off to Jose Rafael Moneo for another master work.
-thanks to Kevin

Also in NYC news; we haven’t had the chance to kick the tires on this one yet but Gehry’s new residential skyscraper is topped out and nearing completion.

DIAGRAMMing
It’s like Christmas each year around here when Nicholas Felton releases his annual Feltron report. Past reports have been infectious to the extent of informing the new look of graphic analysis in the design world –and the 2010 report delivers.
-thanks to Nicholas

PHOTOGRAPHing
The Flickr hive mind is a forward-thinking concept; it’s also a fun way to view images.

EXHIBITing
The University of Washington Department of Architecture is calling all entries for the annual Headlines Exhibit. This show tends to be the who’s who of Architects in Seattle. Failing to get work in the show is on par with not having a website <queue the tumbleweeds rolling by>. If you’re a Seattle architect, the submission form can be found here, if you’re simply a fan of good design you can get more information about the exhibit opening here.
-thanks to Susan

DESIGNing
Get your furniture addiction taken care of over at weheart.
-thanks to Ramiro

Our buddy Greg Lundgren, of Lundgren Monuments, recently launched new urn collections by artists Arne Pihl and Timothy Foss. The pieces bring a higher level of craftsmanship, design and individuality to current offerings in urns and memorials. We’re big fans.
-thanks to Greg

It’s always nice to check in with the Swedes, y’know -see how they’re living and what they’re up to.
-thanks to Dot

Remember that incredibly cool modern house from the film The Ghost Writer? When we set out to research the architect, we found out that it was nothing but sets -inside and out. Incredible and unfortunate.

We’re excited that SHoP Architects out of NYC just got a big commission to design a massive affordable housing complex in Long Island City, Queens –they’ll do a smashing job.

INNOVATing
We end up lugging around camera equipment more and more these days, so when we saw the Camera and Laptop Messenger Bag by ONA BAGS it was love at first site.
-thanks to materialicious

Pre-fab has had a tough go in the residential market, but this pre-fab school may give the concept legs in the academic and institutional world. It may also get rid of a few of those awful portable classroom trailers.

WRITing
Is it really difficult being an architect in America? It’s difficult to be a female intellectual in Kandahar. It’s difficult to raise a family living on waste products in the garbage dumps of China. It’s difficult to find your way as a child in Malawi, where the infection rate of HIV/AIDS is 17 percent, having already wiped out a generation of mothers and fathers. It’s difficult to overcome drug addiction from the quicksand of poverty and incarceration in America’s overpopulated prisons. These conditions are difficult. Being an architect is not difficult.

Bruce Mau knocks it out the of the park and gives architects a good shaking, more here
-thanks to Rachel A

PUBLISHing
Local Architect Ross Chapin is a champion of community and he’s just released a book about neighborhoods. Check it out here.
-thanks to Jerry

Get on board the conversation and let us know what you’re DOing out there.
Cheers,

ARCHITECTing
DeFREITAS ARCHITECTS is doing some nice work in San Diego including a few multi-family projects that we’ve got mad respect for.
-thanks to Kevin

We’re big huge fans of sensible modern projects brought in with cost-effective budgets. So when we got our eyeballs over to the Moonlight Duplex blog we were thrilled to find a handsome residence x 2 built for $115/sf. Big props to Salas Design Workshop in Austin.
-thanks to Tony

Tridente Architects out of Adelaide Australia are doing some smashing work, most notably the Henley Beach Residence, rrrrroww!
-thanks to Martin R.

Not only is the work of Johannes Kaufmann entirely scorching, but the website navigation is a fresh take on interface. We’re fans.
-thanks to Mike E.

Check out the work of Nystrom Olson; they’re doing some nice work in Spokane Washington.
-thanks to Chris P.

Some super, super hot work by Danish firm KHR Arkitekter.
-thanks to Mike E.

CONSTRUCTing
Don Justo Martinez is building an entire Cathedral in Spain out of nothing but trash and he’s making the “green movement” look like a bunch of ninnies.
-thanks to Jerry W.

PHOTOGRAPHing
Vivian Maier took more than 100,000 photos during her lifetime but never showed them to anyone (in fact she didn’t even develop most of them). Now that’s she’s gone and her photos have been discovered, some say she may rank among the top street photographers of the 20th century.
-thanks to Jerry W.

We’re liking the “group pool” feature on a lot of these photo platforms. This one on Nordic Architecture brought back some good memories.
-thanks to John P.

[Photo by Luck-y]

If you haven’t seen the before and after shots of the flooding in Brisbane with digital sliding scale then take some time to visit both of these sites.
thanks to Taryn C.

We were captivated with the story about the mysterious blizzard photos left in New York’s Central Park. The vid below is an enjoyable watch and the photos are wonderful.
Thanks to Angela N.

DIAGRAMMing
The diagram below is a fascinating 24 hour observation of all of the large aircraft flights in the world, condensed down to 1 minute and 12 seconds. Note the movement of night and day with subsequent change to the flight patterns.
-thanks to VA

BLOGGing
It took us about 2.5 seconds to become huge fans of the HowdyHeidi site.
-thanks to HH

The Design Addict blog is great for feeding the habit.

We’ve also been enjoying the reads on thinkBIG.
-thanks to Janet J

DESIGNing
The peeps over at Seattle’s KERF are doing some nice cabinetry without losing the fun of design.
-thanks to Jonathan

The Chool is not only a cool little design but it’s got a clever video to go along with it. Props to the designers over at Slam who know how to market something.
-thanks to Ramiro

The Billowing glass shades over at Bar Agricole designed by Nikolas Weinstein Studios caught our attention.
-thanks to Ramiro

Artist John Grade has a new portfolio of work that continues to develop the relationship between built-object and nature. We like.
-thanks to John

The 3:1 table by TJOKEEFE design studio is an über hot piece of design. We want one.
-thanks to Boo Fagan

This is very cool. Johnston Printing out of Spokane Washington starting putting together a biannual publication called PROOF! to cover good modern design in their corner of the world and at the same time get the company out there in the world. We’ve taken a tour through the latest publication and it’s a fantastic tour of the modern architecture of eastern Washington.  Get your free copy here. Big huge kudos to the team at Johnston Printing – stellar idea!
-thanks to CK and Andrei

While they don’t have much built, the Oskar Leo Kaufmann website is nicely organized and pleasing to flip through.
-thanks to Mike E.

INOVATing
If you haven’t seen the vid on the hand-powered table saw yet, it’s worth a watch.
-thanks to Brian T.

Digital sketchbooks have been catching our eye lately and we’ve actually been spending a fair bit of time looking through some inspiring examples. Check out the digital sketchbooks of Richard Rano and Trevor Dykstra. Good stuff.
-thanks to Richard & Trevor

FINANCing
With the real estate and construction loan landscape changing drastically in the last several years, we’re always scouting for new/better ways to finance good construction. We were thrilled to see this consumer guide to Guide to Green Mortgages / Energy Efficient Mortgages. It’s about time the banks got on board with lending models that encourage sustainability.
-thanks to Richard D

Cheers from team BUILD