Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" duplexes

Brad Pitt's Make It Right foundation released a new set of duplex designs for New Orleans, including work from Frank Gehry and William McDonough's architecture firms. Hopefully these turn out better than 'Benjamin Button' did.

Via TreeHugger.

Man off the grid

Like a modern day Thoreau, John Wells went off the grid, built a $1600 house with solar power, composting, rainwater collection, and a blog.

He calls it: The Field Lab.

Eames Lounge Chair debut

Here's a slice of design nerd heaven. In this video from 1956, Charles and Ray Eames discuss their creative process and introduce one of my all-time favorite chairs, the Eames Lounge Chair.

Subprime

Watch the American housing market spiral out of control.

A nice follow-up to The Crisis of Credit.

My new home

Ain't nuthin' to see here. Just a few shots of my new home.

Buckminster Fuller at the MCA Chicago

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is now featuring an exhibition on Buckminster Fuller, the visionary architect, author, designer, futurist, and inventor. Among his many great quotes, Fuller stated:

Take the initiative. Go to work, and above all cooperate and don't hold back on one another or try to gain at the expense of another. Any success in such lopsidedness will be increasingly short-lived. These are the synergetic rules that evolution is employing and trying to make clear to us. They are not man-made laws. They are the infinitely accommodative laws of the intellectual integrity governing universe.

If you're going to be in Chicago sometime between now and June 21, be sure to check it out.

Chicago's bridge to 2016

Chicago is going all Dubai to secure their bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. This proposed bridge jutting out from the ends of Grant Park into Lake Michigan would definitely be a bad-ass addition to the city. And like most of China's Olympic architecture, it's very environmentally bad-ass. The bridge's architects Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill even went as far as to name it the "Chicago Eco-Bridge."

According to Jetson Green,

The concept calls for a slew of vertical wind turbines, a multi-use athletic trail, electric trolley line, and a solar-harvesting observation tower that promises to take full advantage of the city's skyline.

3-2-1 Contact: Architecture

This song will officially be in my head for the next week. I love the (mostly negative) commentary that starts around 0:45. And David with the I-beam? Brilliant.

Space Cities

Are these damn things almost ready? More spacey-ness here.

Stair Porn

Stair Porn is a nice (SFW) site full of stairs worthy of blowing your wad on... financially speaking, of course.

Water Cube Panorama

Check out this sweet interactive panorama from the top of the 10-meter diving platform at the Water Cube in Beijing. Click "Full Screen," and try not to piss your pants.

More cool pics and info on the Water Cube's sustainable design at TreeHugger.

Shipping Container Living

We've seen some cool re-uses for old shipping containers, but how rad would it be to live in one of these container condos or homes?

Water Theater

This outdoor theater creates water out of thin air, and has "the potential to change the world." For a short video, click to Discovery Channel, then click "Water Theater" in the lower navigation.

Thanks to Brent for the link.

Beijing Olympic Architecture

Seemingly like the Holy Grail of architecture, and possibly more exciting than the actual Olympic games are the stadiums in which they are played. By the looks of things, this year's Beijing Games will not disappoint.

Video: Discovery Channel on the "Water Cube"

Update: More on China's sustainable Olympic architecture.

Eames Stamps

Coming Soon: The work of Charles and Ray Eames will be honored with 16 little stickers. Apparently they are in the form of something that was once known as "stamps."

Brad Pitt to Make it Right

Brad Pitt unveiled designs this week for Make It Right, a project to build new homes in New Orlean's Lower 9th Ward, which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The four main guiding principles for the designs are: safety, affordability, sustainability, and high design quality.

Pitt put up $5 million of his own money, and is asking American families to donate this holiday season to help shelter the thousands of people who lost their homes.

See more designs and make a donation at www.makeitrightnola.org

Pentagram short by Hillman Curtis

The man, Hillman Curtis, created this lovely piece for Pentagram. I love Pentagram's business model and ideology. I also love Hillman's short video work.

Check it out y'all

Pott Architects

Pott Architects tend to draw from an eastern mentality with respect to time and place. Both the structure and the surrounding environment are treated as one, and effectively, the design for each private house could not be constructed anywhere but it’s present setting.
- from the cool hunter

Push-Button House

If you are heading to NYC at all in December, this Push-Button House is something worth checking out.