Depth in surfaces – Wang Shu’s Ningbo Museum
Monday, May 4th, 2009
Museum designed and built as if by archeological time. The Ningbo Historic Museum was designed by Wang Shu of Amateur Architecture Studio. Photos by Iwan Baan, via archdaily.
Posts Tagged ‘brick’
Still-unsurpassed box store architecture: SITE
Sunday, March 15th, 2009
I first saw these amazing buildings, almost all of which have now either had their facades removed or have actually been demolished, in the November 2007 issue of Wallpaper. The BEST Products Company of Richmond, Virginia commissioned architect James Wines’ SITE (Sculpture In The Environment) to build nine commercial buildings for them in the 1970s and early 80s. BEST was founded and owned by the Lewises, a Virginia family with an interest in art and design. BEST stores were famous for their willingness to trade store merchandise for art and as a result the company, as well as the Lewises, gathered a significant collection of 20th century art. Much of the Lewis Collection can be seen at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. (See Wikipedia for a more detailed story.) The building above has supposedly appeared in more books on 20th century architecture than photographs of any other modern structure. Some interesting videos about the Best buildings are here. And Part 2 of this blog post is here.
Brick screen wall, New Delhi, by Anagram Architects
Wednesday, January 21st, 2009
This brick screening wall by Anagram Architects, New Delhi, is a reminder of how imaginatively this material can be used. The wall flanks the South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre, a Delhi-based NGO. It’s strangely reminiscent of the wall in Harry Potter whose bricks rotate in a complicated sequence and then magically open out onto Diagon Alley. The bricks in this wall, too, almost seem to be in motion. From Indian by Design.
