Lucky for Brown, Hyde Park is a pretty cool neighborhood, because this house is definitely unique.

Brown got the idea for The Mushroom House after he’d been teaching architecture for some time.  He’s also completed a Fulbright Fellowship with Otto Graf at the Vienna Academy of Fine Art, and he’d designed a pretty funky bookstore for the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center.  He liked to work with wood, glass, tiles, shells, and other “found” materials to make his building look like it belonged in nature.  He started building The Mushroom House in 1992, and over the next 14 or 15 years he added to it with the help of his students.  He made the entire project a learning experience for many of his students.

Brown used The Mushroom House as his secondary residence – he taught in Ohio and also had a private architectural firm.  Most recently, he was teaching at Baylor University in Waco, Texas while simultaneously raising longhorn cattle at the 3 Horses Ranch in Rosebud, Texas.  Sadly, he was killed in a tragic car accident on June 28, 2008 at only 53 years old.  The world will truly miss out on the amazing structures he would have created in the years he should have had left.

Smith Tower was built in 1914, and named after the guy from Smith Corona -  you know, typewriters and guns?  His name was Lyman Cornelius Smith and he set out to build the tallest building in Seattle.  That sort of went out the window when they built the Space Needle, but ol’ Lyman was long gone by then, so he didn’t care.  In fact, he didn’t live to see Smith Tower built either, but it certainly is a magnificent piece of Seattle architecture.

Architecture notwithstanding, it’s size and structure are not the only cool things about Smith Tower.  See, in a building full of offices, it has a surprise at the top – a three-story penthouse apartment.

Originally the top of Smith Tower held a very large water tank and a very small caretaker’s apartment.  During a 1990′s renovation the tank was removed, and a gloriously large space was revealed.  A very rich person leased said space, and got renowned architects Castanes Architects to redesign the inside of the pyramid.

What is left is a funhouse of ladders and stairs in a breathtaking three-story space that is filled with valuable artwork and very unique custom furniture.  All the original catwalks that were used to service the water tank are still there, and wind around the pointy-ceilinged place.  At the very top there is a glass ball that is supposed to offer this amazing view of the city.  No picture on the internet, so apparently it’s a well-kept secret.  Makes you want visit, doesn’t it?

photo by Baron Moe

This palatial summer home was built by Amir al-Mumenin al-Mutawakkil ‘Ala Allah Rab ul-Alamin Imam Yahya bin al-Mansur Bi’llah Muhammad Hamidaddin, Imam and Commander of the Faithful.  Why don’t we call him Imam for short?

Imam was the King of Yemen from 1926 to 1948, when he was assassinated.  We don’t go too far into politics or anything here on YLW, but apparently he was a pretty fair and nice guy, and he had 14 sons, so they were probably pretty sad.

Back to Dar Al-Hajar, though, because is that a beautiful place or what?  Imam had the place constructed as a summer home, and it was constructed on an already-existing prehistoric structure.  This particular valley that Dar Al-Hajar overlooks is a fertile ancient land that is talked about in rock drawings, for Pete’s sake.  Scholars speculate that the old construction on top of the mountain where Dar Al-Hajar was built was older than recorded history.  That’s, needless to say, pretty darn cool.

The structure itself is 7 stories tall, with open courtyards and little pools everywhere.  It has 35 rooms and the stairs look like they were built into the rocks.  They probably were.  The entrance has a 700-year old tree in it.  Even though Imam had the place built in the 1930′s, it looks like a place completely out of time.  A place of beauty and wonder that I’m sure his 14 sons enjoyed – from ducking in and out of the courtyards to exploring the caves beneath (unless the caves were really used for corpses, as rumors say).

Dar Al-Hajar is open to the public now as a sort of museum, though the Yemen travel website says that its “only jewel is the building itself.”

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The Bart Prince House

by Lynn.

Bart Prince is no ordinary architect.  He “builds from the inside out”, creating homes that feel good to the homeowner, and feel good to the land they are on.  He uses organic styles and interesting lot arrangement to make the most of the natural light and resources  offered by a particular lot.

He trained under Bruce Alonzo Goff – a prominent yet “idiosyncratic” architect who was heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright.  Under Goff’s tutelage he assisted with the designs of both the Pavilion of Japanese Art and the Los Angeles Museum of Art.

He designs residential homes with quite a flair.  The picture above is of his own personal house.  It’s located in Albuquerque, New Mexico and is filled with artwork and drawings.  The yard is decorated with metal dinosaurs.  The property reflects Prince’s eye for detail and his flair for the unusual.

The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo is the world’s first capsule-centered piece of architecture built for actual use. This is probably not a new concept to you, but I think it’s rare that when you can actually see the room for yourself. To me, it looks like a room aboard a spaceship. Just imagine, instead of the neighbors across the way in the window, you can see Earth. Fits quite nicely, doesn’t it? Now imagine putting everything you own in an 8 by 12 by 7 ft space.

What’s really cool is that the versatility of the capsules. They can be connected to make larger spaces and are designed to be replaceable, but they haven’t had to replace one since it was completed in 1972. Each capsule is connected to one of the two main shafts by only four high-tension bolts. Only four bolts are keeping you from falling to your death. Plus, knowing everyone loves airplane bathrooms, the designers saw fit to give each room one!

Those Japanese will do just about anything to get everyone else’s attention.

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Construction began in 1969 by one Rex Martin and his wife Caroline Bogaert Martin.  They had traveled a bit in Europe and were stunned by the architecture, so they decided to try to recreate it on some prime acreage in Kentucky.  The finished “house” would have fifteen bathrooms, seven bedrooms, a fountain courtyard/driveway area, and more.  Unfortunately, before the place was finished the thrill was gone, and Caroline and Rex divorced in 1975.  The castle was left unfinished.

The property was for sale for years, with a price tag of $3 million dollars.  There were talks of an upgraded Medieval Times kind of tourist attraction, or maybe a museum.

Tom Post bought the castle, and did some massive renovations.  In May of 2004 the castle caught fire.  Post, who lived in Miami at the time, had planned to use the property for charity – hosting fund raisers and other events.  Despite the setback of the fire (which cost a bundle), post promised to rebuild.

All the repairs were finished by 2008.  The resulting renovations had the castle home to twelve suites, a formal garden and tennis court, a pool, a ball room, a dining hall, and more.  Of the sixteen total bedrooms, four of them are in the turrets.

The Grand Ballroom

A Guest Room

Now known as CastlePost, the property is still owned by Tom Post, and it is an inn and special events venue.  Two reports said that the property is for sale again, for a whopping $30,000,000.

The house is located one acre of wooded land in Highland Park, IL, and is over 5000 square feet.  It has four bedrooms, 4 baths, and a heated and cooled garage.

Remember the car?  With the crashing out the….HA!  So, don’t do that.

This is the kitchen.  None of the listings say what kind of appliances it has, etc.  That could be because the house was built in 1953.  Who knows?  The kitchen might not have been updated.  That’s not always a bad thing.  You don’t have to undo a bunch of renovations that aren’t your taste.  But, for the purposes of this article, who cares?  I’m not trying to sell this house, I’m just trying to tell you about it and show you pictures.  So, here are some more pictures.

The bathroom.

The dining room.

The entrance.

Another exterior shot.

The office.  Nice view, eh?

A view of the pylons that hold the house suspended over the forest.

The spacious open floor plan.

More of the spacious open floor plan.

The house was designed by an architect named A. James Speyer.  Speyer graduated from Carnegie Tech in 1934, and he thought most of the architecture in the US was boring, so he went and spent 3 years in Europe.  He came back to the US and did a little more schooling before he started designing buildings in America.  He designed this post’s feature home for Ben Rose.  I don’t know anything about him, but his family lived in the home until very recently.

The garage addition was designed by Speyer’s student David Haid, who reportedly wasn’t a super nice guy.  But whatever.  It’s a pretty cool garage.

The house costs about $1.7 million dollars.  That’s a pretty good bargain for that size house in that part of Illinois, all things considered.  Actually, that’s a lie.  But it still isn’t as expensive as it was when they first listed it at $2.1 million dollars.

OCADU is Canada’s largest and oldest known art and design university so it’s no surprise that when it comes to the architecture of the building, the approach is novel and unexpected amid a city skyline that is known for striking design.

The Sharp Centre for Design that makes up this quirky structure was designed by the British architect Will Aslop, of Aslop Architects, in conjunction with the Toronto-based Robbie/Young + Wright Architects Inc.  Aslop’s work is as distinctive as it is controversial.  This English architect has amazed and infuriated onlookers with his modernist designs, loud colors and unconventional forms.

Aslop told the CBC Canada his use of color and shape worked to aerate Toronto, and said the problem with most cities is a lack of refreshing color.  His work on the Sharp Centre served as a launch pad for other Toronto architects, like Frank Gehry, who revamped the Art gallery of Ontario and Bruce Kuwabara, designer of the National Ballet School’s 2005 expansion.

Aslop’s prominent Sharp building has won numerous awards for design including the Royal Insitute of British Architects Worldwide Award, an award of excellence in “Building in Context” in the 2005 Toronto Architecture and Urban Design Awards and was also noted as the “most outstanding technical project overall in the 2005 Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards.

The Sharp Centre was built to accommodate an expansion of the growing campus.  The college, the Province of Ontario and Rosalie and Isadore Sharp, who the building was named after, funded the unconventional structure.  The striking building houses art studios, exhibit spaces, lecture theaters and faculty offices.

The Centre straddles the college’s existing buildings, creating a unique contrast between the conventional classroom structures and modernist space.  Located on a modest side street sandwiched by two main commercial thoroughfares, Sharp Centre is surrounded by mid-rise housing, the Art gallery of Toronto, Gardner Museum of Ceramic Art, a community park and a food court.  All of this adds to the tight-knit feel of a true artist community.

One of the best views of the building is from Grange Park, where the black and white structure seems to hover above the trees, creating a surprisingly beautiful contrast with the vibrant green grass of the park.

With his design, Aslop tackled the challenge of developing an urban setting and creating new space while preserving the old. The Sharp Centre builds a connection between existing buildings, but also provides additional civic space.

The Sharp Centre for Design was the College’s $42.5 million redevelopment project that was completed in September 2004. The Centre includes a striking “table top” parallelepiped structure that stands atop angled mutli-colored pillars. The face of the building appears to be pixellated as it is made up of a multitude of black and white squares. The Centre houses OCAD’s studio and teaching spaces and is connected to the older part of the campus by an elevator and stair core with a newly created entrance hall that marries the two styles of architecture. The new appears to float above the old, complimenting and building upon the design knowledge of generations.

The School and lifestyle

Established in 1876 by the Ontario Society of Artists and was the “first school in Canada dedicated exclusively to the education of professional artists in fine and commercial art.”  Today it is the third largest art and design university in North America. The environment of the university creates a creative hothouse for ideas and inspiration amplified by the unique architectural style of the buildings. The structure itself challenges students to take risks and explore new ideas.  Despite the university’s long history, it has proven that it can modernize, develop and stay on top of the latest artistic trends.

As impressive as the design itself, OCADU offers a wealth of creative educational programs with a variety of design and art programs unrivaled in Canada.  Students here hone their craft in the heart of culturally rich Toronto.  This thriving artistic community attracted professors whose work has been shown in the most renowned galleries in the region.

The college is a destination for Canadian artists, designers, creative thinkers and strategists.  The campus architecture itself represents a philosophy of staying on the forefront of artistic creation while preserving the integrity of generations past.

OCADU offers Bachelor of Fine Art and Bachelor of Design degrees in industries from advertising to sculpture and printmaking.  The liberal studies courses explore theories and ideas behind art while providing students with a historical context that applies to modern-day studio work in art and design.

The college bills itself as an institution that builds on traditional artistic strengths, but adds new approaches to cross-disciplinary collaboration and the integration of emerging technologies.

Both the design of the school itself combined with the educational philosophy and coursework proves that tradition and the cutting edge can mingle in a community that seems handcrafted for artists.

Taylor Drauden is a cosmetology college graduate but currently focuses her time freelance writing and blogging. Taylor tends to focus her writing on topics that interest her regardless of how bizarre they are but mainly focuses on covering college life topics and esthetician school advisement.

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That’s what Vincent Callebaut Architectures envisions for New York.  An almost 2000 foot high structure that would contain what is needed to produce fruit, vegetables, meat, and dairy on its 132 floors.  Not only would the structure be a source for fresh food that was produced right there in the city, but it would also be a totally sustainable building that was powered by wind and sun, and would purify liquid waste into compost, fertilizer and water for the crops.

The structure would also contain houses for the people who tended the different crops, herds, etc., and research laboratories for testing product quality, ensuring that all the scientific mechanics are functional, and obviously providing a place for process improvement and environmental responsibility.

We might not see it in our lifetime, but the Belgian architect is certainly on to something.  Shouldn’t some of our research efforts and future expansion include projects where we can rely on solar and wind power rather than electricity and oil, and where we can grow and produce food that is safe and free of chemicals and scary hormones?

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