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I forgot to post this the other day, a new video from one of my favourite groups - The Roots.

This is taken from their new album, “Rising Down”, which is out next week. If you want a link to that record then drop me an e-mail.

This track, entitled “Rising Up”, features one of my favourite up-and-comers Wale as well as the ever-so-soulful Chrisette Michelle. And some quality Black Thought rhymes as usual!

Kind of linked with the post below, kind of not.

I only started looking up architecture, art and design kinds of stuff on the net since the turn of the year. I never really thought about it before - but there’s loads of stuff on here as you can imagine - and I’m getting into the habit of posting the majority of it here. Although… there’s absolutely loads, and I can’t post it all. So here’s some other stuff of interest:

• The book stair case
• Huski Complex by Elenberg Fraser
• The Google Office in Zurich
• Water Villas (floating houses essentially) in Amsterdam by Waterstudio.NL
• Pixel Couch by Christian Zunzunaga
• NextHouse by Empryean International LLC (I really like this)
• Steve Jobs portrait made purely out of Apple products
• Loverro Residence by Murdock Young (also really, really nice - pictured above)

Completely jacked this from phottle.com…

Click on the photos to enlarge.

These are all mint. I’m not sure I could do without the ‘leccy and the TV and whatnot, but there’s something about having your own little house, on your own little island, which you can only reach by boat that’s quite exciting.

Although for some of those places I’m not even sure how you’d manage it with a boat and a big ass ladder…

I’m a bit late in posting this but…

Next year is the 120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower, and to celebrate its birthday the French are giving it a pretty big party hat. Or ‘observation deck’ as its being called. A ‘webbed Kevlar observation deck’ to be precise.

It’ll double the size of the deck at the top - and while some people aren’t too keen on it, don’t worry, it isn’t permanent, but will be simply bolted in place and easily removed later.

Pics…

EDIT - Turns out it won’t be getting it’s party hat… link

I’m going to straight copy and paste this from Cube Me. Because I can…

This is the proposed 1.5-billion-square-foot Waterfront City in Dubai by Rem Koolhaas.

This architectural  masterpiece is the 1.5-billion-square-foot Waterfront City designed by Rem Koolhaas, an entire self-contained city resting atop an artificial island.

The island will be divided into 25 identical blocks, which will be populated by a mix of tall and squat towers punctuated by more fantastic buildings, like a spiraling 82-story tower, and a 44-story sphere that will be its own mini-city within a mini-city complete with a sprawling network of escalator tubes.

There’s also traditional parks and stuff inside to keep it a little more earthly, but every new gargantuan development like this makes us wonder just how far Dubai will push it next.

And if you want to read more, the New York Times has all the info your little heart desires.

Now this club looks a good night.

The Blue Frog in Mumbai used to be a large industrial warehouse, until it was converted into a lounge with a restaurant, a bar and a live music stage.

The booths seat anywhere between 4 and 10 people and are arranged at various heights so everybody can see the stage.

The sound is absorbed by the bumpy texture on the walls, so as not to disturb anyone outside.

If I’m ever in Mumbai I’m definitely going to pay this place a visit. Well. Should I ever be earning serious money and/or of a high enough status to warrant being welcome.

It looks like something out of a movie. And appears more Hollywood than Mumbai.

Cool.as.fuck.

Just found this on Kanye’s blog… Made by French artists Francois Delaroziere and Pierre Orefice, the Mechanical Animals were started in 2007 starting with the massive mobile elephant. The project’s second stage, a collection of interactive marine life that will populate a massive multi-story carousel, is currently being constructed with a projected debut date of Summer 2009. Currently, the entire collection is housed in a turn-of-the-century warehouse that once served as the city’s shipbuilding hub and is open to the public for viewing daily.

(more…)

Who said laundry couldn’t be stylish?

Link for those that want to get in on the act.

(Click on the pics for a bigger picture)

The RR house in Sao Paulo by the Brazilian Andrade Morettin Arquitetos lies close to the sea in a humid climate surrounded with thick vegetation.

It’s a 220 square meter house surrounded by greenery. Hammocks hang throughout the house. One neat thing about the house is that it is made of a combination of full-height wooden and glass opening screens which allow the compartments to become part of the main double-height living area, six meters high, which in turn can be opened up to the outside world.

Stylish. as. fuck.

My house mate Mark just asked me “did you see the world’s largest swimming pool in the paper today?” No, I replied. And he marched me over to the laptop with some serious excitement. “You’re going to be impressed” he followed. It can’t be that impressive? It’s only a swimming pool, I thought… I was wrong…

The San Alfonso del Mar condo complex is based in Algarrobo, Chile, about 70 miles west of Santiago, and situated on the Pacific coast. It’s a fabricated saltwater pool filled with 66 gallons of water spread across 20 acres. It is over one thousand yards in length and 115ft deep. Impressive huh? It also boasts a temperature controlled indoor beach as well as opportunities of sailing, kayaking and scuba diving. It cost just short of $2bn to build and costs a further $4m to maintain every year. The pool was developed by Fernando Fischmann who has further plans to develop more super pools across the world - including spots in Argentina, Panama and Dubai.