Morrow Royal Pavillion - Recycled Glass; "Eco-Friendly" & Cool

Recently completed the Morrow Royal Pavilion is one of the more significant and notable "eco-friendly" buildings constructed in recent years. The building is not only "eco-friendly"; it is also architecturally and aesthetically interesting and it has generated a good deal of publicity garnering headlines such as "Cash not the only thing green in Sin City - Vegas now home to world's largest green building made with recycled beer bottles" and "Las Vegas Entrepreneur finds a creative way to recycle Beer Drinkers ...

Royal Ontario Museum "Crystal", Toronto, Canada

In 2002 the Royal Ontario Museum, a Canadian world culture and natural history museum located in Toronto, began a significant expansion and renovation project dubbed Renaissance ROM. By far the most significant part of this project was the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. The facility was designed by architect Daniel Libeskind who beat out around 50 other high profile architects in a competition for the project. The "Crystal" is certainly an eye catching creation with its sloping walls, angular...

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA

In my recent article on Frank O. Gehry's Venice Beach House I used an image from the blog "What Do I Know". During some correspondence with the author of "What Do I Know" he mentioned the Walt Disney Concert Hall; one of Gehry's most iconic creations. While researching and writing my recent articles on Gehry and also on two of his buildings, the Venice Beach House and The Hotel Marques de Riscal, I had come across the Concert Hall but I had not looked closely at it. The mention of it ...

Frank O. Gehry Venice Beach House, Venice, CA, USA

In my "spotlight" article on Pritzker Prize winning architect Frank O. Gehry published recently I observed that Gehry "buildings often include the use of flowing curves and metal claddings that add a surreal touch and differentiate them from other, more conventional, designs. Having said that Gehry by no means restricts himself to one theme; take a look at the Venice Beach house ..." Today I return to Gehry to look at the Venice Beach House which is, to use an old cliché, the ...

Mammy's Cupboard, Natchez, MS, USA

Dating from the American Civil War era and originating in the southern US The "mammy archetype" is one of the best-known archetypes of African American women. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines "mammy" as "a black woman serving as a nurse to white children especially formerly in the southern United States". Given that while there may be a more "politically incorrect" building than Mammy's Cupboard somewhere out there I for one have not come across it. Located in Natchez, MS ...

The Flying Saucer House, TN, USA

About three weeks ago we published an article on the "UFO House" in Royse City, TX. That was one of the late 20th century Futuro homes. Here we bring you another "UFO" style home though this one is be more commonly referred to as the "Flying Saucer House". This home, while just as strange as the Futuro homes, is unique and very definitely "one of a kind". Constructed in 1970 the "Flying Saucer House" is located on Signal Mountain in Tennessee on a switch back along ...

The Kirsch Home, Oak Park, IL, USA

Now this one was a bit of a challenge! Saw this a while ago on a blog somewhere; just a picture with no info of any sort but the picture looked interesting so I decided to try to track it down. It took a little while but I was successful in the end. The "Bunker" as it seems to be referred to was designed by the architect Errol J Kirsch and there is a series of images of the home on his website. Unfortunately there is no additional information on the rationale behind the design or the construction methods; just ...

The Cigar House, Albuquerque, NM, USA

The Mead/Penhall house or the "Cigar House" as we have termed it is located in Albuquerque, NM. Many of the buildings we feature have nicknames that have been around for a long time and we have no idea of their origin; some make sense and some seem a little obscure. We have not previously heard of a nickname being applied to this property so we chose to create one; perhaps it will stick, perhaps not. In any case if you take a look at the close in aerial shot taken from Google Maps...

Dome Of A Home, Gulf Breeze, FL, USA

Valerie and Mark Sigler had had just about enough after their home was severely damaged for the third time by a hurricane. In 1998 following Hurricane Georges they had what remained of their home demolished and started the search for the architect who would build them their new home. After a lengthy search they came upon Jonathan Zimmerman [who passed away 2005], the architect behind the "Dome Of A Home" which was constructed in 2003. The Sigler house is without doubt ...

The Brenton House, Boulder, CO, USA

The Brenton House in Boulder, CO is one of a long list of notable designs by architect Charles Haertling. The home was built for Dr. Stanley Brenton and his family who had selected a home site in the Wonderland Hills subdivision of Boulder for the construction of their new home. The site was idyllic perched above a lake and having superb views of the lake, the mountains and both sunset and sunrise. With a design said to have been inspired by the barnacle [Haertling was ...