This chapel in Tarnów, Poland, is by Marta Rowińska & Lech Rowiński of the firm Beton (photos by Beton) and was completed in 2009. Like so many wooden churches, it feels like an inverted wooden ship. Being a completely non-religious non-churchgoer who really dislikes all the tortured religious iconography and narrative (and could do without the cross), I don’t know why I’m so attracted to all these humble churches (see also here). Maybe because there’s something surrealist or fantastical about their architecture, not just in that they suggest poetical barns or ships, but because their utility is somewhat non-utilitarian and undefinable. Having said that, the design of this church grew out of very practical, material concerns (like so much successful architecture): Via archdaily:

“Building the church had also a “side” purpose: to bring the local community together. It was built by not very skilled workers, so the technology had to be really simple. Concrete slab as a foundation, timber structure as the main “spine” of the building and the wooden cladding. There is almost no detail, no fancy elements. This is also a kind of experiment – how to create a certain quality of space with the use of rudimentary technical simplicity. The investor, who is a quite well-known Polish writer, decided to save this small bit of the Vistula bank from becoming an another wild beach with a cheap bar on the side.”

Buildings by the Albuquerque-based architect Bart Prince. The top photographs show the house he built for Joe Price, a collector of Edo-era Japanese art and design. This is a small sample of photos of his work from the April 2009 issue of Wallpaper Magazine (a really good issue). As with other houses we’ve shown, the influence of architect Bruce Goff, Prince’s mentor, is really evident. Somehow this is Lord of the Rings meets some sort of agrarian 60s sci-fi. The photos at bottom show: the Gradow House, Aspen, Colorado, and Prince’s own handbuilt house in Albuquerque.

This gets points for adventurousness and imagination and magic, if not success. It’s another image from The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, Greystone Press, 1970.

The textile company Anek Taanka, which means “infinite stitches,” was founded by Indian textile designer Varsha Sharma. She has said that “my challenge is to create pieces of textile that could inspire spaces to be designed around them rather than the other way around.” That’s a bold ambition but this pillow makes you think she could actually do it. Found on Indian by Design.