London loft envy...

A wooden modular home sitting inside an industrial shell. Divine.

The handy work of William Tozer.

House envy...

I've spent many years trying to escape from Australia, but this fabulous home by renown architect Harry Seidler makes me all nostalgic and homesick. It's for sale, but it's not quite enough to drag me back. Almost, but not quite. But I do love 70s design, the proper stuff, not flares and garish wallpaper, and this house is such a fab example of livable retro.

Cementics...

Cement truly is a wonder product. Capable of creating the most hideous of eyesore car parks and tower blocks, and also of the most stylish examples of modern architecture. A concrete visual feast:

A converted air raid bunker in Berlin:

The Hemeroscopium House in Madrid:

The "Tea-House library" in Shanghai:

And an assortment of other beauties:

Sunken sculpture...

Jason deCaires Taylor is an English sculptor specialising in the creation of contemporary underwater cement sculptures which over time develop into artificial coral reefs, or are retrieved and set in perspex.

I love the idea of an underwater gallery, there aren't as many wrecks/sites of interest to dive around as there use to be, and it's such a surreal way to explore and discover new worlds.

Jungle Fever...

If you haven't heard of Las Pozaz, don't worry, you aren't alone. The creation of exiled English eccentric Edward James contains over 36 surrealist concrete structures scattered around an 80 acre chunk of Mexican jungle, and is often considered one of the most over looked 20th century artistic endeavours. James himself is a fascinating character, as this site documents, a contemporary of poets such as Evelyn Waugh, he went on to be a huge patron of the arts, supporting both Dali and Magritte, before heading to Mexico to create Laz Pozaz, his "Surrealist Xanadu", where he roamed around with all his exotic pets in tow, insisting that all the gardeners pruned in the nude. 

The park, which has now been rescued by an architectural charity, having fallen into ruin following James' death, is now open to visitors and is finally attracting suitable international attention. 

House envy...

Ahhh, the Olson Kundig "Brain" House. Staple fodder for design blogs, but it's always worth a perv. I've been terrible at blogging recently, as I'm in Australia visiting the parents, who don't get internet access or phone reception in the wilds of Far North Queensland. Looking around me at the ever rotting pole home, that needs more maintenance to keep the moisture at bay than a ship, I cannot for the life of me see why we just didn't build something like "The Brain". The intellectual bunker look just can't be beaten in tropical climes. If you don't know the architects, they're a name worth knowing - taking design from where Lloyd Wright left off, and turning it into a more subtle statement.