Architecture

Here at Gizmag we love some of the micro homes we’ve seen, from the Tiny Leaf House on wheels to the Finnish micro house, and that’s not mentioning the London one room apartment turned into a two-story luxury home! It looks like we’re not the only ones, with New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg catching the tiny home fever and announcing a competition for an innovative micro apartment model.  Read More

Spectators turned out in the hundreds to witness the light show that marked the climax of the inauguration of Europe's tallest building, the 309.6-m (1016-ft) Shard in London. A dozen emerald-green laser beams emanated from the Shard to pick out iconic landmarks including the London Eye, St. Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge. The tower's 95 floors were lit up with color-changing lighting, and 30 search lights flared outwards and upwards from surrounding buildings.  Read More

That EXIT Architects describes the redeveloped Palencia Civic Center as a rehabilitation rather than a refurbishment is apt considering the 19th century building was originally a prison. Somehow, refurbishment is too small a word for such a radical change of use, implying a mere lick of paint here and a scrubbed-down banister or two. No. EXIT quite literally tore the roof off the place.  Read More

A series of striking illuminated animated mosaics projected onto Buckingham Palace has broken the Guinness World Record for the most artists working on an art installation.  Read More

It's July, which means the London 2012 Summer Games are less than a month away. For the average world citizen, that means simply clearing a little time in his or her schedule to cheer on their country. For BMW and Serie Architects, it means overseeing the finishing touches on a massive pavilion that includes an integrated waterfall.  Read More

Portuguese designer Gabriela Gomes has created an interesting mix of art and architecture with this portable shelter installation. The cloud-like "Shelter ByGG" has been designed do provoke sustainability at its core, using 100 percent non-polluting and recycled materials such as cork and solar roof panels to supply the module with energy.  Read More

Amsterdam and Vienna-based design studio Büro für MEHR has created a drive through concept for an airport passenger terminal that could change the way airports process traffic. The concept offers a significant reduction of the size of an airport’s layout to simplify ground traffic and significantly reduce its environmental impact. It is anticipated that within next decade aviation traffic could almost double, with many airports already struggling to facilitate increased demand. The Drive Through Airport concept has been designed with future logistics in mind, while simply presenting an idea that raises the question, why hasn’t anyone done this before?  Read More

The new Center for Virtual Engineering (ZVE) at the Stuttgart headquarters of the Fraunhofer Institute officially opened its doors for the first time on June 20. The unusual "prototype building," designed by Dutch architectural firm UNStusdio, has been awarded a gold certificate by German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), but its main feature is the focus on communal space designed to foster a cooperative working environment.  Read More

As home extensions go, this eye-catching extruded cloud is certainly something different. Completed earlier this year, the "Cloud House," as it is now known, is the result of both the renovation and extension of what was once a traditional double-fronted Edwardian house in the Fitzroy North suburb of Melbourne Australia. It's now anything but.  Read More