I've moved!

After much deliberation and a few struggles with the simplistic Blogger format, I decided to move my blog to Wordpress. The blog will still be the same- similar content, style and voice- just via a much more advanced platform and with a super stylish layout! There's also a few added features- links to my articles for other publications such as Disegno Daily and Building Design, as well as a Facebook and Twitter feed. I hope you like it. 

You can find it here: http://studiothreetwofive.wordpress.com/

The Village by Gert Robijns

Belgian artist Gert Robijns has recreated part of the village he grew up in, shown in these images by photographer Tim Van de Velde. For his latest piece of art, Robijns has built a white church and a house using chipboard and metal frames, and sited it in a former military airfield in Belgium. The ghost town has two sides- the smooth white facade and the exposed structure behind. It is meant as a parallel world for Robijn's dead grandfather.

Images Tim Van de Velde via Dezeen

Happy Birthday Kate Moss

I've loved Kate Moss ever since I saw a Mario Testino exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London and saw her face up close, slathered in turquoise paint looking straight into the camera's lens. This Christmas, my obsession continued when I was given a lovely coffee table book of beautiful Kate Moss images at Christmas. The book's published by Rizzoli and the images have been collated by Jess Hallett and Jefferson Hack. My favourite images of her are when she is at her most natural and caught slightly off guard. Today also marks her 39th birthday, so here's a selection of images to celebrate.

Photographer: Corinne Day

Photographer: Corinne Day

Photographer: Mario Sorrenti

Photographer: David Sims

Photographer: Corinne Day

Find Momo

Graphic designer Andrew Knapp has created this super cute Tumblr featuring his black and white border collie concealed within images of Northern Ontario. Although the photographs are beautiful objects in themselves, half the fun is looking for little Momo in these Where's Wally-style images. Can you spot him?

Images: Find Momo

Merci Boutique Paris

When I was recently in Paris for New Year, I visited this boutique called Merci, and ended up wondering how I had never discovered this trendy hang-out and concept store before. Housed in the cool Oberkampf neighbourhood, the store is laid out on three floors in a former sun-lit warehouse loft- very New York. The store has only been open two years and has a philanthropic message behind all the designer gladrags- profits made by the store are donated to organisations fighting child poverty, particularly in Madagascar. It's more open, cosy and welcoming that the usual designer store- the staff are friendly and the wares are laid out akin to a vintage or second-hand shop. There is also a cafe with a lending library of books and comfy chairs to lounge in with a fresh mint tea and nibbles of lemon and orange cake. 

Images: IT Hunter

Hyttgårdsparken, Sweden by 42 architects

My former Bartlett tutor's latest project has been featured on BDonline. To read the article in full see: http://bit.ly/11ud03e or see below.

42 architects has completed the first phase for a new 6000sqm activity park in Falun, Sweden.

Hyttgardsparken is situated in a Unesco World Heritage Site surrounded by a former copper mine and old workers cottages.

42 architects was first approached in 2006 to build a new activity park with a focus on skateboarding.

The first phase of the project features a sunken concrete landscape for skateboarders. 42 architects consulted local skateboarders in Falun and designed a skatepark with a focus on street skating more similar to normal city terrain.,On one side of the park, there are stairs, blocks and rails, while on the other side towards the former copper mine, there are sloping banked surfaces and carved forms.

Johan Berglund, founder of 42 architects said: “We felt that many of the parks that are built around the world are very alien to their environment, and as architects we felt we had a responsibility to create something which is in dialogue with the context of the site. Our approach was to look for clues in the history of the site, and this generated ideas of how we, in an archeological way, could 'carve' out the design from the ground.”

Phase 2 of the project will provide more skateboarding pits in the ground as well as green spaces with planting, trees, pedestrian paths and benches. It will also feature a set of boule pitches to attract older people to the park in addition to the young skateboarders. 

Images: 42 architects

The ABC of Architects

I just discovered this- a super cute and colourful animation of the ABC of Architects, from A for Aalto, to G for Gehry and F for Foster and R for Rogers and so on. It's by Frederico Gonzalez of Ombú Architecture.

Rem Koolhaas confirmed as 2014 Venice Biennale curator

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas has been officially confirmed as director of the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. The board of the Venice Biennale, chaired by Paolo Baratta, met today in Venice to thank David Chipperfield for his achievements at the 2012 Architecture Biennale, and to congratulate Koolhaas on the appointment. Koolhaas said: “We want to give a new look to the basic elements of architecture - used by any architect, anywhere and at any time - to see if we can discover something new about architecture”. The board of the Venice Biennale described Koolhaas as “one of the greatest personalities of the architects of our time “.

Via bdonline