[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel. ]
Secondhand is one of the greenest ways to shop for books, so why shouldn’t bookstores themselves be secondhand, too? These 10 book shops around the world have made use of the most unexpected of reclaimed structures, from a stunning church in the Netherlands to a funeral home in New Orleans.
Selexyz Dominicanen Church, Netherlands
(images via: design top news)
With sleek matte black and shining steel, the rows upon rows of books at the Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore in the Netherlands look much like those at any other modern retailer. But juxtaposed against the marble arches and antique frescos of a Dominican church, they suddenly become utterly spectacular. Architects Merkx+Girod constructed a massive ‘walk-in bookcase’ that is two stories tall and yet still dwarfed by the dimensions of the church itself.
Newsstand in a Movie Theater, Texas
(image via: jackson meyers)
The historic Alabama Theater, which opened in Houston in 1939, got a new life long after shows stopped when a retailer lined the inside with bookshelves. The bookstore closed in September 2009, moving to another unit in the mall, leaving the theater with an uncertain future and possible risk of demolition.
El Ateneo Bookstore in a Theater, Argentina
(images via: wikipedia)
Imagine taking a seat in a box overlooking one of the most beautiful antique theaters in the world, not to take in an opera but to get lost in the pages of a book. El Ateneo Bookstore may be the only place in the world where you can do just that. Now a grand tourist attraction, El Ateneo attracts over a million people ever year.
Doulos Floating Bookstore on a Ship
(image via: out of town blog)
Until recently, the MV Doulos was the oldest passenger ship still sailing – built just three years after the Titanic, which of course said its goodbyes to the world long ago. The ship was used as a floating bookshop for many years, at one point holding between 3000-5000 books on the shelves with a half million more in the hold. The ship traveled around the world selling books until 2009, when it was retired.
Airstream Traveling Bookstore
(images via: poetic home)
Another bookstore travels the streets rather than the seas, distributing artist books, zines and independent publications. Projet Mobilivre, also known as the Bookmobile Project, was a 1959 Airstream converted into a a pretty little bookstore based in Quebec. Unfortunately, the bookstore made its last tour in 2008.
Manure Tank Bookstore, Wisconsin
(images via: this week in bookhunting)
Talk about creative, unexpected reuse: this castle-shaped bookstore in Wisconsin used to hold manure. Lots of it. Castle Arkady is a treasure trove of old country books, especially books printed between the 1880s and 1930s, and is located on the farm of an elderly couple that now runs the bookstore only on Saturdays during the summertime.
Looking Glass Train Car Bookstore, Oregon
(image via: darwinsbulldog)
The little red caboose of the Looking Glass Bookstore in Portland, Oregon is impossible for passersby to resist despite the presence of the much larger and world-famous Powell’s Bookstore in the same city. The caboose was repurposed into a children’s section, while the rest of the bookstore’s collection extends into a main building.
Bultman Funeral Home Borders, New Orleans
(images via: woodward design)
This Borders Bookstore in New Orleans is unlike any other, and it’s definitely got a dash of Southern Gothic flavor. The Bultman Funeral Home was converted into a Borders in 2008, with architects Woodward Design preserving the historic exterior of the building while making it look like virtually any other Borders on the inside.
Hay Castle Books, Wales
(image via: wikipedia)
Hay-on-Wye in Wales is known as the “town of books”, and it’s no wonder – not only are there an unusually high number of bookstores (over thirty in a tiny market town), but one of them is even located in a castle. Possibly the oldest Norman castle in Wales, the Hay-on-Wye castle is packed with thousands of secondhand books and is a popular destination for bibliophiles visiting Great Britain.
Cigarette Vending Machine Bookstores
(image via: psfk)
What to do with old cigarette vending machines? Turn them into cool little automated bookstores! German publisher Hamburger Automatenverlag sells a small selection of books for just 4 euros a pop – definitely a healthier offering than the machine’s former contents.
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Bilbao Building Features Faceted Glass Facade
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Energy & Fuel, Geography & Travel. ]
Faceted like an irregular crystal, this building in Bilbao, Spain wasn’t simply born of some stroke of artistic inspiration. The amorphous towering facade came about because the city’s restrictive zoning rules required a setback from the curb as well as other concessions. Coll-Barreu Architects took those restrictions and ran with them, producing an unexpected structure that not only serves as a focal point on the street, but is energy-efficient as well.
The striking glass skin is actually disguising a rather pedestrian health department building, but while some architecture enthusiasts may bemoan the lost opportunity for an interesting modern interior, the ‘double facade’ lets in lots of natural light and allows for natural temperature regulation, decreasing energy needs. The inner structure shines through at night like a skeleton.
“The double façade solves not only urban requirements but also those concerning energetic, fire-resistant and acoustic insulation from outside,” explain the architects. “This climatic improvement enables the elimination of the conventional air-conditioning installation as well as the false ceiling. Thus, the sound produced by the building is reduced, air recirculation in workplaces disappears, with a significant increase of health conditions. The volume occupied per floor is also reduced.”
The space between the building itself and the skin acts as a massive two-story atrium that opens up to a rooftop deck. Because of all the angles on the facade, the view from inside is never quite the same, reflecting various parts of the city scene outside depending on viewpoint, season and the time of day.
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11 Unbuilt Visions for Stalled Urban Architecture Projects
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel, Technology & Gadgets. ]
The economy has brought development to a grinding halt in cities around the world, leaving partially completed skyscrapers and other buildings as open wounds in the urban landscape. But not everyone is content to keep them that way, and architects and designers are envisioning some incredible eco-friendly ways to rehab and re-purpose the space, which includes several dormant sites in Boston, a tower in Athens, the Chicago Spire site and empty lots in Seattle.
Chicago Spire Site Turned Vertical Farm
(images via: inhabitat)
That huge, unsightly hole in the ground where the ultra-tall Chicago Spire was supposed to sprout still has plenty of potential for other designs, including this vertical farm/residential complex by a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The proposal features a series of towers connected by sky bridges, giving the Spire site a variety of valuable uses. Residents living in the green roofed-structure would get vegetables and herbs grown via hydroponics, literally right next door.
Vertical Algae-Powered Bioreactor, Filene’s, Boston
(images via: boston.com)
In a conspicuous corner of downtown Boston, there’s a huge dirt pit and the gaping carcass of the former Filene’s department store. Design firms Howeler + Yoon Architecture and Squared Design imagine an incredibly futuristic algae-powered bioreactor made of prefabricated ‘pods’ to take its place – a huge change from the former brick building. The vertical biofuel building would even have its own self-powered robotic arms that reconfigure the pods to enhance growing conditions for the algae.
Engineered Biotopes, Piraeus Tower, Athens
(image via: design boom)
Since nature would take over our man-made buildings rather quickly if we weren’t around, why not give abandoned or stalled buildings over to them in a controlled way? Toronto-based architects Anthi Grapsa and Konstantinos Chalaris infuses some much-needed green space into the neighborhood where the Piraeus Tower has stood empty since its completion 30 years ago. For the ‘Piraeus Tower 2010′ competition in Greece, this architectural duo imagines a vertical park with a shimmering facade of plant nurseries offering a respite for both the human and non-human species living in Athens.
Latticework Public Garden, Columbus Center, Boston
(images via: boston.com)
Occupying 7 prime acres in Boston and originally intended as a massive mixed-use development straddling the turnpike, the Columbus Center project has now been abandoned. Architect Chris Reed would like to see it transformed into an energy-producing latticework public garden complete with microturbines and walkways across the highway connecting the Back Bay and South End neighborhoods.
Bike Park, Filene’s, Boston
(image via: boston.com)
A somewhat more realistic proposal for the Filene’s site in Boston by Cynthia Bubb sees it turned into a bike park bordered by a perforated aluminum fence painted with forest scenes. The site itself would become an urban bicycle parking lot and grassy recreation area, and the side of the building would be draped with a projection screen so visitors can watch movies at night.
Holding Patterns: Adapting Stalled Sites in Seattle
(images via: seattle.gov)
In response to ‘Holding Patterns’, a competition that challenged designers to come up with alternative uses for stalled construction sites around Seattle, one proposal questioned why urban spaces should be packed with so many commercial buildings when communities have other needs. The ‘Modular Approach to Building a Sustainable City’ entry, which earned an honorary mention, suggests turning those unfortunate holes in the ground left by stalled construction projects into sunken theater spaces and using the bones of partially completed structures as massive plant hangers.
Urban Oasis: Illuminated Waterfall, Filene’s, Boston
(images via: boston.com)
Curiously, the proposal for Filene’s by Carol R. Johnson Associates doesn’t address the eyesore factor of the abandoned, unfinished building itself. It focuses, instead, on the desirability of an ‘urban oasis’ complete with a waterfall, swimming pool and sandy beach. At night, the unfinished building would be colorfully illuminated as music played.
Medicinal Garden, Longwood, Boston
(image via: boston.com)
Prospective tenants of the planned Longwood biotech lab on Brookline and Longwood avenues in Boston backed out when the economy faltered, bringing work on the project to a halt. So, given the fact that it’s currently just a dirt lot, architect Shauna Gillies-Smith thinks it would be a cinch to turn it into a temporary medicinal garden planted with echinacea, honeysuckle, nasturtium and other valuable plants.
Windscraper Tower, Piraeus Tower Redesign, Athens
(images via: inhabitat)
New York City-based HWKN Architects won the Piraeus Tower 2010 competition with a design that updates the dilapidated building for the 21st century, making it the landmark it was supposed to be. “Windscraper Tower” would generate energy by installing a layer of wind-harvesting artificial ‘leaves’ on the exterior which also act as a canopy and shade screen for the building.
Biodiversity Projection Screen, Harvard Science Complex, Boston
(image via: boston.com)
Harvard University’s financial troubles mean that construction on the state-of-the-art Allston science complex would be paused while the university reconsiders its plans for the future. Before it was annexed by the city of Boston in 1874, the Allston neighborhood was much greener and home to many livestock operations. Designer John Powell wants to remind people of Allston’s former biodiversity with a quarter-mile projection screen on the fence surrounding the vacant property showing images of the area’s past, present and future.
Eco-Friendly Skin Graft for Ugly, Unused Buildings
(images via: gizmag)
If all else fails and an abandoned or stalled building is just too ugly to leave intact, give it a skin graft. That’s what the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) proposes for virtually any outdated building in need of a quick, relatively inexpensive makeover. Their “Tower Skin”, made of a composite mesh textile, generates its own energy, collects rainwater and can be easily removed. LAVA notes that it’s a great option for the post-industrial abandoned buildings across Hong Kong, and could also be used to update ugly buildings that are still functional.
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From Reservoir Ruins to Stunning Urban Park in Sydney
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Geography & Travel. ]
First, it was a failed urban reservoir, closed after just twenty years due to its weak flow of less-than-sparkling water. Then, the crumbling remains of whitewashed brick, barrel-vaulted ceilings and graceful arches was incongruously used as a commercial garage. But today, those 132-year-old ‘ruins’ in Sydney, Australia have new life as a stunning urban park that captures a captivating combination of ‘ancient’ and modern architecture.
(images via: the city of sydney)
Architects Tonkin Zulaikha Greer added a minimal amount of new structures to the old, in a limited palette of materials – steel, aluminum and concrete – to give the original brick, stone and timber center stage. Opened in March 2009, Paddington Reservoir Gardens gives city residents a grassy park above the water chambers as well as a “sunken garden” in the western chamber featuring a water garden in acknowledgement of the site’s aquatic history.
Far from obliterating all signs of the reservoir’s decades of disuse, the design actually preserves some graffiti art on the walls in the eastern chamber. The urban street art, modern additions and the original structure reminiscent of ancient Greece or Rome come together in a fascinating juxtaposition that is not often seen in renovations of historic sites.
While similar structures across the world have simply been demolished and disposed of, TZG and the City of Sydney chose a sustainable strategy that not only reuses old materials imbued with history and a sense of the city’s identity, but gives local residents access to much-needed green space in an inner-city environment. Paddington Reservoir Gardens won the International Architecture Award in July 2010.
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Mobile Cities: 11 Visionary Habitats Roaming Future Earth
[ By Steph in Art & Design, Home & Garden, Technology & Gadgets. ]
In the 21st century, humans are increasingly on the move, traveling across the globe and perhaps, sometime in the future, across the galaxy. We’ve already got enormous cruise ship ‘cities on the sea’, but what about other kinds of mobile cities? Science fiction, concept designers and architects have brought us these 11 awesome ambulatory urban centers ranging from post-apocalyptic escapes on wheels to massive castles that float around in the sky.
Ron Herron’s Walking City
(images via: archigram)
Proposed by architect Ron Herron in a 1964 Archigram magazine article, this ‘Walking City’ concept could actually provide an ideal setting for a scary sci-fi film. Herron imagined massive mobile self-aware robotic structures that roam the earth so they can move to wherever their particular resources or manufacturing abilities are needed.
Philip Reeve’s Traction Cities
(image via: 3-hares)
Naturally, it was only a matter of time before someone took Herron’s idea and turned it into “Municipal Darwinism”, in which intelligent mobile cities take part in a sort of mechanical food chain, with the larger “Traction Cities” consuming the smaller ones. Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines tosses these tiered predatory cities into battle with one another.
Wandering City by Sergey Skachkov
(image via: cgi society)
Russian concept artist Sergey Skachkov captures a similar mood with his ‘Wandering City’, a digital painting depicting a Herron-like stacked structure on top of a mobile base, chugging along in a cloudy landscape. ‘Wandering City’ earned an honorable mention in the NVArt artspace competition.
Howl’s Moving Castle
(image via: fanpop)
Not all portable cities are land-based. One of the most famous examples of a fictional flying ‘city’ is ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’. The fantasy-novel-turned-Japanese-film features a fish-shaped steampunk structure with a protruding tongue that’s really somewhere between castle and city.
Water Station
(image via: cgi society)
Another entry in the CG Society NVArt artspace competition is ‘Water Station’ by Steve Bjorck, who says of his creation: “The planet is hot and dry. The only water left is hidden deep under the dead crust. This nomadic colony tap into ancient wells scattered across the planets surface with a large, floating station similar to Earths oil and gas platforms. This well has a healthy supply of fresh water, they will be able to stay here for many months, maybe years.”
Superstar: A Mobile Chinatown
(images via: dezeen)
Chinese architecture firm MAD isn’t exactly pleased with New York’s Chinatown, calling it a sloppy, kitschy, outdated tourist trap. What could bring it up to date? Oh, maybe making it a bizarre star-shaped mobile city that can take the latest and greatest of Chinese food, inventions and culture to other cities around the world. ‘The Superstar’ is a self-sustaining city that grows its own food and recycles all of its waste so as never to be a burden on its host cities.
Gaia’s Gift
(image via: cgi society)
Few flying cities are quite as beautiful and organic-looking as ‘Gaia’s Gift’, a digital concept by Petar Milivojevic of Serbia, who says “Gaia represents the energy of all living and unliving parts of the earth that are a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a single organism. Combined with the old theory of Fibonacci about Golden spiral which shows us the perfect balance in nature.”
Nomad City
(images via: wookieepedia)
It could be argued that many Star Wars ships are mobile cities, including the Death Star. But one is particularly interesting: Nomad City, a reclaimed Dreadnaught cruiser mounted on 40 captured AT-ATs that constantly roamed the surface of Nkllon in search of minerals to mine.
Complex in the Center of the Universe
(image via: impact lab)
Of all the unbelievably awe-inspiring architecture concepts submitted for the NVArt artspace competition, this one takes the cake: ‘Complex in the Center of the Universe’ by Polish artist Marek Staszek won first place with a hovering multi-level city complete with green space and water fountains. The artist says “I wanted to achieve complete integration of future architecture with nature, complete with green parks, trees and gardens. Everything that makes us feel relaxed and calm. Architecture can give people magnificent vistas, as well as a small historical old-town feel. “
Stacked City Portable Urban Shelter
(images via: import.export)
A different kind of ‘portable city’ makes it easy to create a home no matter where you go. The Stacked City camping tower by Import.Export is a long way from primitive tent camping, giving travelers an otherwise unattainable view of their surroundings and making them anything but low-profile. As Dornob points out, there are security issues to be addressed, but designs like these could be the turning point for real-life mobile dwellings that go far beyond recreational vehicles.
LEGO Crawler Town
(image via: inhabitat)
Designer Dave DeGobbi brilliantly put LEGO blocks to work in creating a concept model of a massive mobile structure on wheels that “roams the barren wastes of a post steam-punk world after cataclysmic climate change do [sic] to excessive coal use.” According to DeGobbi, this town is where it’s at, considering that it’s the last place to find such luxuries as pizza, fresh vegetables and beer.
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12 New Extra-Large Sustainable Building Designs
[ By Steph in Uncategorized. ]
As the need for cooperative sustainability becomes ever clearer, can we learn from the mistakes of our past and fundamentally change the way we live? Adapting to the new needs of our world requires much more than a sprinkling of eco homes and businesses. These 12 gigantic green building products take on the challenge in a much bigger way – with concepts for new cities, new societies and buildings that solve the world’s most pressing problems, like access to fresh water.
Spain’s Bubble-Shaped Freshwater Factory
(images via: inhabitat)
They look like nothing so much as a cluster of biospheres stacked on top of each other – or perhaps just soapy bubbles. But the glass domes of this strange tower serve a vital purpose: filtering seawater into freshwater through mangrove trees, which draw in saltwater and perspire freshwater. Once the mangroves release this precious substance, it evaporates and condenses into dew which collects in freshwater tanks.
One & Ortakoy, Istanbul
(images via: gad architecture)
Just like the beautiful hills they’re set in, the buildings that will make up the “One & Ortakoy” mixed-use complex in Istanbul have curving, organic forms and rolling roofs covered in greenery and flowers. Under construction in the neighborhood of Ortakoy, the project will consist of two buildings with natural stone facades – one a residential complex, the other commercial.
Green-Roofed High School, France
(images via: world architecture news)
Situated next to a public park, the Marcel Sembat high school in Sotteville-les-Rouen, France will almost disappear into the trees and grass of its surroundings. Additions to the existing structure – which will include a restaurant, student housing, staff housing and workshops – will be topped with a wavy green roof that will offer natural insulation.
Watertower Skyscraper Brings Freshwater to Sudan
(images via: h3ar)
In the vast desert landscape of Sudan, freshwater can be incredibly difficult to come by – yet deep under the surface is the largest underground lake in the world, which would change residents’ lives dramatically if it were tapped. Polish architecture firm H3AR imagines a solution: buildings inspired by both water towers and the native baobab tree, which would access the water through underground pumps. These towers would contain a water treatment plant, a hospital, a school and a food storage center.
Massive Rain-Catching Skyscraper
(images via: h3ar)
How could a building capture as much rain as possible? Through a web of gutters covering the entire exterior, which would then direct the water to a processing plant for use in toilets, washing machines, cleaning and plant watering. H3AR combines this ‘skin’ with a huge, bowl-shaped rainwater collector on the roof for maximum rainwater catchment capabilities.
Mixed-Use EcoDistrict in Dijon
(images via: exp architects)
Imagine living in a diverse neighborhood packed with green features galore, from vertical gardens and green roofs to bicycle paths and eco-friendly playgrounds – all adjacent to the city center. Such ‘ecodistricts’ are in planning around the world, including this concept for Dijon, France by EXP Architects in cooperation with Studiomustard Architecture, Sempervirens Landscape Designers and Even Conseil. The design will serve as a model for similar future developments in the same city.
De-Centralized Sustainable Society
(images via: ctrlz architectures)
It’s not just a building, or even just a city – but rather, a re-imagining of an entire society. That’s what CTRLZ architectures are doing with their new concept, stating ““We believe that architecture is not anymore about form and/or/…function, but that it is about relations. The development of network systems shows us that the power resides in links and connections.” Commerce, food production, ornamental gardens, housing, social public spaces and energy collection come together in a way that emphasizes cooperation between inhabitants.
Subterranean Greenbelt Hotel
(images via: reardon smith)
The subterranean design of Hersham Golf Club in Surrey by ReardonSmith Architects contains five-star lodging as well as a spa and golf facilities, while still meeting urban growth restrictions – the site is contained within London’s green belt, a ring of countryside that aims to prevent urban sprawl. The design also addresses lowering the impact of traffic flow and positions above-ground buildings in existing woodland so that nearby local residents maintain an unobstructed view of untouched landscape.
Beijing’s ‘Creative Zone’ Greenbelt
(images via: arch daily)
If there’s any city in the world that desperately needs a greenbelt to provide residents with natural space and prevents further sprawl, it’s likely Beijing. This rapidly growing city – plagued by air pollution problems – could get a greenbelt of its own that would allow interaction with nature while maintaining proximity to local conveniences like shops, restaurants and public transportation. UNStudio won a competition to create this “creative zone”, which would become a showcase of experimental architecture.
Masdar Sustainable City
(images via: lava)
Could Masdar City be a vision of the future, a modern metropolis where sustainability is built into every sidewalk, store and streetlamp? Designed by LAVA and located in Abu Dhabi, Masdar City is a planned community built to be zero-waste and zero-carbon. With housing, commerce and recreation all situated around a vast plaza, this concept aims to be a model of sustainability for the rest of the world.
Dubai’s Solar-Powered Vertical Village
(images via: graft lab)
What does Dubai have in abundance, aside from sand and mind-boggling creativity? Sun, of course -–and Graft Lab’s Vertical Village takes advantage of that plentiful resource with a surface that is angled specifically with solar energy collection in mind. The cluster of mixed-use buildings includes solar collectors on the south end that automatically pivot for maximum exposure.
Giant Energy-Generating Waterfall for Rio Olympics
(images via: inhabitat)
It looks unreal: an enormous, towering waterfall seemingly originating from the sky. But the Solar City Tower, designed by RAFAA Architecture & Design for the 2016 Rio Olympics, is actually a building that uses solar energy to generate power during the day, and a pumped water storage system to create power after the sun goes down. The tower could provide plenty of electricity for the Olympic Games and for the city, with the waterfall – “a symbol for the forces of nature” - appearing only for special occasions.
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