We’ve always had a fascination with abandoned buildings. (Especially hotels! In fact, that’s our only draw to the Hollywood Tower of Terror at California Adventure, but we’re too wussy to go on the ride so we’re missing out. Although we’ve seen pics on Scouting New York which will have to suffice. We digress…) Anyway, the above building is not a hotel, nor is it abandoned. But we like it anyway. In 1999 David Hurlbut bought the abandoned-for-40-years Harmony Club in Selma, Alabama. He turned the multi-floored combo meeting hall, restaurant, ballroom, bar, etc. into his private residence. Neat enough on its own. However, it’s the way he did it that really caught our eye. Not only did he preserve the character of the building, he preserved the age of the building, treating crumbling walls and peeling wallpaper with polyurethane. You have to check out the full set of photos. While it would completely creep us out to be alone there at night, the style is amazing and unbelievable.

An Abondoned Men’s Club is Now a Home (Yatzer.com) via

This hotel is getting a lot of press today, and we couldn’t help but post it as well. Above is a construction shot of Hotel Inntel Zaandam by WAM Architecten in the Netherlands. The hotel is made to look like a mass of houses typical of the region, “from a stately notary’s dwelling to workers’ cottages,” according to the firm’s chief architect, Wilfried van Winden. His favorite is the blue house at the top of this photograph and is modeled on one featured in a painting by Claude Monet. (We were unable to find said painting, so we’ll take Mr. van Winden at his word.) Mr. van Winden told The Guardian that the idea came from him when thinking about traditional hotel design and felt that hotels should be a “home away from home.” He may have taken that idea quite literally, but we like the results.

Hotel Inntel Zaandam

WAM Architecten (site in Dutch)

We stumbled on this today and thought it was hilarious. Nothing beats kids’ forts made from couch cushions (and other various household materials) paired with serious architecture criticism. Here’s the review for the above photo, one of our favorites: The crisp, orthogonal structure is, in a way, camouflaged by the informality of the landscaping. While a clear bifurcation exists between site and structure, we give high marks to the close coordination of architect and landscape architect in using similar materials to exaggerate the divergent design concepts. Grade: B+

Having worked for years at architecture and design magazines we give the reviews an A+.

Couch Cushion Architecture, a Critical Analysis @ Build Blog (via Neatorama)

We love reading Scouting New York, a blog by the once-anonymous Nick Carr, a film location scout in NYC. A couple of days ago he posted some amazing pictures of 570 Lexington—originally built for RCA-Victor, then sold to GE, and finally donated to Columbia University. The building is an Art Deco-lover’s dream with beautiful details depicting electricity everywhere you look. It’s unbelievable the flourishes incorporated into such a magnificent building…and a shame that most people don’t even notice them. Take a look at Nick’s blog for even more photos, including a spectacular image of the building’s top.

Grabbing Electricity at the Old G.E. Building (Scouting New York)

Somewhere in Detroit photographer Gregory Holm and architect Matthew Radune are encasing an abandoned house in ice. The “architectural installation,” Ice House Detroit, is being blogged about from start (fundraising) to finish (disassembling the house and recycling the usable materials). Their purpose is to bring attention to the foreclosure problem in Detroit (Holm estimates “nearly one in every four homes in the neighborhood is either in a state of disrepair or abandoned”) and some of the funds they raised went to paying the back taxes on another foreclosed house, allowing a single mother and her family to move in. The project is starting to gain a lot of attention as it nears its February 7 completion date.

Check out their blog and follow their progress. We can’t wait to see the finished product because it already looks beautiful.

Ice House Detroit

This past weekend we saw a dozen houses on the Austin Modern Home Tour. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and are glad we’ve been exercising because that was a lot of work! (Tip to home tour goers world-wide: wear comfortable and easily removable shoes.)

Although several houses made an impression, none stuck with us like 2900 Willowbridge Circle (pictured above). Just the exterior was intriguing enough. The builder had taken what looked to be an undistinguished 70s ranch and dramatically updated it without doing a complete rebuild. The thoughtfulness continued inside with large open spaces that just screamed to be filled with party guests. The staging of the house (it is currently listed for sale) was also attention-grabbing. While the furnishings were obviously not enough to fill the grand spaces, the style was just quirky enough to keep you interested. I loved the house, but I wanted to know more about the people who lived there!

After doing some digging we found out more about the house, including more details on its renovation at Apartment Therapy, including that the kitchen area once contained an indoor swimming pool! We also contacted the listing agent and found out that the builder responsible for the remodel was Woodeye Construction. And finally we discovered that the furnishings belong to the current residents who are staging tenants (i.e. people who live in a house for cheap and keep it ready to show at a moment’s notice). We’re definitely going to do some more research because we like what we saw and this is an area we’re looking to expand into.

You can read more about the remodel and see some staged images and at Apartment Therapy, although they really don’t do the house justice after having been there. Unfurnished photos are available on the listing site and the Modern Homes tour site.

2900 Willowbridge Circle (listing)
Sneak Peek at One of Austin’s Modern Homes (Apartment Therapy)
Austin Modern Home Tour
Woodeye Construction

Continuing with our theme of things that trick your eye is this log cabin-like structure. Although it appears to be a large, very well-stacked wood pile, it is in fact a moveable study/workspace designed by Piet Hein Eek for a musician. Not only does it offer a new take on a traditional log cabin, it also provides interesting camouflage for what could be a generic outbuilding.

Log House Study (via Better Living through Design)

The brilliant and beautiful short “The Third & The Seventh” from Alex Roman is a surreal look at movement, light and architecture. On top of that it was entirely computer-generated and is some of the best CG work we’ve ever seen. Take a moment to relax and enjoy it.

(via Boing Boing)