Suspended Staircases

Cantilevered from the wall, made from heavy steel, concrete or glass, these stair treads seem unfettered by the laws of physics, hovering in the air. All manner of engineering tricks were used to make these 18 modern staircases into works of art that we just can’t stop staring at.

Suspended Stairs at the Godzilla House, South Korea

South Korea’s ‘Godzilla House’ is quite an interesting piece of architecture as a whole, but the curved shape and chameleon-like     metal facade are just the beginning. One particularly striking element included by Chae Pereira architects is a wooden staircase with white vertical supports that almost look like rope from a distance.

Ribbon Illusion Stairs by HSH Architects

If you have to stare at your staircase from the living room every day, why not make it a work of art? This beautiful ribbon staircase by HSH Architects puts ordinary stairs to shame, distributing weight down to the floor through hidden brackets mounted into the wall.

Barely-There Stairs Above a Reflecting Pool

The way that these stairs play with light and reflection in the space around them is almost more important than the stairs themselves – design-wise, at least. Positioned above a reflecting pool, the cantilevered stairs provide a bit of shady respite on the way to a sunny terrace.

Incredible Bird’s Nest Suspended Staircase

These stairs definitely aren’t trying to hide – they’re the most interesting element in the room. Reminiscent of a bird cage, the chaotic criss-crossing metal bars are balanced by the serene white of the walls and cabinets.

Hanging Black-and-White at BUMPS, Beijing

These highly unusual blocky black-and-white stairs are a visual echo of the BUMPS building’s exterior, which consists of black and white rectangles seemingly stacked Jenga-style. Each step is connected to the next leaving negative space as they descend, resulting in interesting optical effects when viewed from the lower floor.

Minimalist Black Stairs by Ecole

Like an Escher drawing sprung into three dimensions, this floating staircase by Ecole is made all the more dramatic with the use of bold black against a white wall.

Read more over: Here

Izmir Opera House by Nuvist Architecture and Design

 nuvist Izmir Opera House

This futuristic architecture design is a work of art by Nuvist Architecture and Design for Izmir Opera House competition. They have to design an Opera House that reflects as an art center building, yet still play its role as a participant in the society and connect the citizens with the artist’s works. The result is fabulous and futuristic Opera House.

Designer : Nuvist

izmir Opera House Nuvist

Text from Nuvist:

Art has a great role in showing what happens in human beings’ life. Soul, intelligence and the emotions are the reflections of the community, and Art forms the social identities of communities. It also shows us the difference between the various social identities. Global influences effect the types of knowledge acquisitions or the social values in the art, and the artists determine the standards of modern life.

Thus, art centers have many roles beside their fundamental functions that should be participant, shared with society and create a modern level in connection between the citizens and the artists’ works. This concept is the key criteria for the Izmir Opera House Project. The project should be reflecting the history, the culture and the modern life in Izmir, furthermore it should be an identity for the city of Izmir.

In this context, we have started to design an urban art dome that we call Artistic Foyer. The urban power effects the functional system, and the functional system defines the artistic foyer. As a result, all these things together create a parametric topography which forming the dome.

 

Read more over here: http://www.tuvie.com/izmir-opera-house-by-nuvist-architecture-and-design/

 

See Complete Project from Nuvist : http://www.nuvist.com/

Outstanding Offices: 12 Unorthodox Business Buildings

Why should office buildings be sprawling gray complexes in uninspired shapes, filled with depressing gray cubicles in which workers sit and long for a glimpse of nature? For a space so integral to a company’s most important functions, offices tend to be far too bland – but not these 12 buildings. Like a breath of fresh air in a stale room, the architecture of these structures is a welcome change, from high-energy urban penthouses to peaceful glass lookouts in the woods.

Via weburbanist.com

White Mountain Office, Sweden

Location:Stockholm, Sweden
Program: Datacenter
Collaborators: Frida Öster and Jonatan Blomgren
Geology Consultant: Geosigma AB
Construction: Albert France-Lanord Architects Albert France-Lanord Architects
Client: Bahnhof AB
Construction Area: 1,200 sqm
Project year: 2008
Photographs: Åke E:son Lindman

  

Deep underground in a former anti-atomic shelter is the White Mountain Office, a 1200-square-foot complex that exploits the jaw-dropping contrasts between raw, rustic rock faces and the sleek curvature of modern glass and steel architecture. Albert France-Lanord Architects admit that science fiction films and even James Bond served as inspiration for the office structure, saying “The client is an internet provider and the rock shelter hosts server halls and offices. The starting point of the project was to consider the rock as a living organism. The humans try to acclimate themselves to this foreign world and bring the ‘best’ elements from earth: light, plants, water and technology.”

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Red Bull Headquarters, London

 

What else would you expect from the signature beverage of the hyperactive than an office building featuring a gigantic slide? Outfitted in the brand’s red, blue and silver color scheme (along with plenty of steel), the building is thoroughly modern and adult yet retains a sense of playfulness.

(images via: design verb)

 

 

 

 

Selgas Cano Architecture Office, Spain

Everyone needs a window in their office so they can take a moment every now and then to gaze out at nature for a while and recharge before getting back to work. But what if half of your office building’s roof were open to the sky, framed by a canopy of trees? The Selgas Cano Architecture office building in Madrid is set partially into the ground with one side entirely transparent, giving employees the ideal inspiration to design more incredibly architectural masterpieces.

 

 

(images via: iwan baan)

 

 

 For many more Outstanding Offices and Beautiful Business Buildings head over here:

http://weburbanist.com/2010/08/20/outstanding-offices-12-unorthodox-business-buildings/

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• Building as a Verb: Designing a Building That Works Harder for You (greenbiz.com)

The true Stone House

The true stone house, in the montains of Fafe, Portugal.  Watch a video of the house(no English)in link below.

Photography by Feliciano Guimaraes.

  

“Inspired by the Flintstones, this odd house was constructed between two giant stones on the hillside of Fafe Mountains in Portugal. Like most contemporary homes, it has a front door, roof, and selection of windows, while the huge spherical boulder on the uphill side of the house and scoop-shaped end give it a prehistoric feel.”

 

 

 
Google Maps, here
Photos by Feliciano Guimaraes.

Photography by Feliciano Guimaraes.

For more images visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsome1/sets/72157615078780504/

 

See video at: http://www.likecool.com/The_true_Stone_House–Building–Home.html

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsome1/392996757/in/set-72157615078780504/

Architecture Photography: Beauty of Interior and Exterior Designs

American architect Julia Morgan once said, “Architecture is a visual art, and the buildings speak for themselves.“.

Indeed, architecture serves as a voice to express the artistic stance of the architect at that time. Photography takes a step further to interpret architecture in several ways. What used to be an accurate portrayal of the structure has now gradually evolved into a manipulation of different perspectives to bring out the interesting elements of a single structure. The art of photographing architecture takes on many forms. Whether it is photographing the exterior or interior, many awesome images can be resulted with the correct techniques and more importantly, the observant eye to spot the different points of view.

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Like other types of photography, what lies ahead is always a series of challenges for photographers before an excellent shot is taken. However, there are two main challenges in architecture photography – Lighting and Image distortion. When photographing the exterior, natural lighting is all you have got and you have to capture the building at its most glamorous moment. Image distortion occurs when the building has lines running horizontally and vertically and they appear distorted. The right equipment and the right angles would prevent that pitfall.

Interior architecture with repeating patterns and geometric shapes is a bonus to photographers.

Employing the use of different camera angles would reveal the beauty of these designs. Architecture with unique and unusual structures also tend to catch our attention. We can’t help but start to ponder how it was made (or maybe built) possible. Photography comes into play as it does justice to impressive architecture.

For many more stunning photographs head over to Hongkiat.com.