An architect, photographer and a graf writer walk into a bar… My three guised men, ill advised once again. Oh by night, Oh by night… from the acts of construction, observation and destruction this product of defacement did form.

This Carbon Dater by Sruli Recht is a black diamond-tipped carbon pen for writing and illustrating directly on glass. Amazing.

The details: A .30 carat black diamond set in milled brass claw, fixed to a hand tooled laser engraved inanimate carbon rod, presented in an inked 304piece hinged cardboard box.

Why do I need one of these again? Want.

Wonderwall is the interior design firm created by Masamichi Katayama– they’re responsible for all kinds of incredible spaces around the world (but especially in Japan). Ever been inside a BAPE store and wondered who was behind the genius interior design and architecture? Some other highlights include Dean & Deluca in Roppongi, APC in Aoyama, Collete in Paris, the UNIQLO store in NYC (with the moving mannequins) and more. Look into more of their amazing work here.

The landscape of many suburban towns are dotted with cookie cutter Ranch or Victorian homes surrounded by white picket fences and calling to mind the perfect little world brought to life by films like Edward Scissorhands or The Truman Show. Families exist within their box and talk to their neighbors within the boundaries of their property. While this aesthetic is a strange embodiment of the American dream, it almost seems as though it could use a 21st century update. GRAFT Architects have seemingly come up with the perfect update on the modern Suburban neighborhood with their Camelback Houses designed as part of the Make It Right Project to pioneer duplex designs and redesign and rebuild the lower 9th ward of New Orleans destroyed by Hurrican Katrina. These wonderfully sleek homes spice up the boring flat face of your average subdivision; lending an equal importance to the maintenance of private family life while also providing space that encourages neighborly interaction.

Inspired by modern ruins and the spirit that remains alive inside of them, Geometry of Ruins seeks to simultaneously provoke feelings of hope and its death. The multimedia show by Tyger creator Guilherme Marcondes and his artist wife Andrezza Valentin—both from Sao Paulo and now living stateside—goes from an art center in Sao Paulo that was never finished, whose mystical what-could-have-been promise is amplified by a superimposed eclipse on fire, to a video installation with dozens of tiny screens flashing frenetic images and mimicking the city’s grid layout. I love the couple’s concept of using structures as literal skeletons in which to frame imagination. The show runs till July 11 at Flux Salon in Venice, CA, the wonderful little gallery by Jonathan and Meg Wells (of ResFest fame).

Singapore will be showing off an array of national achievements to the globe at Shanghai’s World Expo in 2010. With that date seemingly around the corner, it’s high time they got a move on crafting their host pavilion. While they’ve received a multitude of architectural suggestions, perhaps the most stunning entry in the pavilion design contest was provided by DesignAct. The architectural firm has created a masterwork in the form of a pixelated cloud skyscraper, entitled “My Dream, Our Vision.” The breathtaking mass of sculpture would consist of 3866 permutated cubes with varying shades of transparency, lingering above a constantly evolving field of green. The formation is meant to characterize Singapore as a progressive land where increasing modernity and reinvention reign supreme.

Via Inhabitat

If you’re interested in the future of architecture, you want to check out Vision 2020, an online conference of noted architects, critics, and students where they paint a picture of the built environment and its relevance in the foreseeable future. The site features literature reflecting perspectives from all sides on the influence of technology, the natural environment, and the needs of the public. The Vision 2020 project serves as an open forum, and succeeds in bringing forth some compelling ideas. Feel like getting involved. You can submit a video to their YouTube page, or just post it here. But that’s not very forward-thinking of you.

Let’s pretend we had kids and a backyard.  Now, how about a nice afternoon project of building a playhouse? And not just any playhouse, let’s do a LEED certified playhouse built entirely out of recycled materials and it includes solar panels on the roof. Screw the kid — we want that playhouse. This is the type of installation that comes out of the 3form Three for Three installation project. The yearly contest is underway and some really amazing submissions are starting to pop up. The contest focuses on high level design in both commercial and residential products that feature low environmental impact materials. Obviously 3form, being a supplier of such materials, have a stake in people building such things. The Three for Three contest ends December 5th and winners announced in early January. Take a look at the entries and vote for your favorite commercial and residential designs. We’ve listed a few of our favorites after the jump. Not that we’re telling you who to vote for.

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Rick Sommerfeld (the3rdspace) and Rob Pyatt are no newbies when it comes to turning a humble abode from the mid 20th century into a 21st century work of art. Their latest project Pinon House, is yet another tribute to fine form in modern architecture. The design duo gave an unassuming Boulder, Colorado habitat a major overhaul via some serious remodeling and add-ons. The result shows off their knack for turning the seemingly simple into an appealing wonderland of geometry and practical living space.

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We like mixing up a bit of modern design culture with the great historic architecture. So when I heard that Hotel Josef just around the corner from Old Town Square in Prague was designed by London (though Czech nationality) architect Eva Jiricna I knew I had to stay there. The hotel had everything you would expect from a four star hotel: very helpful staff, gym, sauna, beautiful bar and breakfast — the typical amenities you can list off any given four star hotel website. But where Hotel Josef rises above the rest is in its attention to details. Beside being designed by one of the great contemporary architects of recent years, they completely cater to creative professionals: WiFi throughout the lounge and bar, high speed Internet and iPod docks in the room, and such progressive design you feel like your staying in a piece of art. If you make it to Prague we highly recommend checking out the Hotel Josef and if you are in the literary scene at all note that the Prague Writer's Festival is hosted by the hotel every year. If Hotel Josef is a little out of your budget, we wrote up the wonderfully beautiful Miss Sophie's Hostel a while back as well.

Check out some more pictures after the jump.

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The Beijing skyline will be the subject of many establishing shots during this summer’s Olympics, but in the years to come all eyes might shift towards Tianjin. BoHai Bay in China’s third largest urban area will be the future home of the 1,174 foot tall SinoSteel International Plaza. Slated to be completed in 2011, it will become the city’s most dominating architectural feature. The towering hexagonal honeycomb structure was designed using an innovative and energy efficient form of climate modeling. It helps to regulate both the temperature and daylight thanks to the variations in the size of each cell’s window. Not content just to scrape the clouds, the complex designed by Beijing’s MAD architects will also feature an adjacent hotel that will have similar eco friendly design.

Via Inhabitat

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After enjoying a successful month-plus long run in the hills of L.A., The Storefront for Art and Architecture recently folded up the tents to its Pop-Up Store so they could sprout in another city. This time they’re taking the show across the pond to London as part of the London Festival of Architecture 2008. Their temporary display is opening June 20th and running through July 27th on Exhibition Road and will feature The BIG CPH Experiment, a series of design projects and building models created by the Copenhagen-based architecture firm BIG/Bjarke Ingels Groupe. Known for infusing living essentials such as leisure time, working, and shopping in their work, CPH’s first showing at the Storefront’s New York base was in October 2007, highlighting the housing needs for those of differing attitudes and economical backgrounds. At its center is an impressive rendering of LEGO towers, constructed from 250,000 of the plastic blocks. We’re sure you’ve made some pretty sweet things out of LEGOs in your day, but we’re almost positive these towers dwarf the castle you constructed when you were ten.

You might be saying to yourself, “Hey, I live in a gravity defying home. It’s called an apartment.” And you’d be right. But, PointClickHome has a whole gallery full of slightly wackier concepts than your Upper East Side, white-pained-brick, 12′ x 9′ coffin. Architectural feats include tree houses in Java, lantern-like condo bubbles in British Columbia, and the occasional angular cube found in Scandinavian countries. Our favorite: Archangelsk, Russia’s Gangster house. This wooden tower of tower was apparently owned by a repudiated mobster that loves Frank Gehry and hates structural stability.

There once was an old woman who lived in a shoe; unfortunately, it was extremely impractical in that it wasn't very spacious and always smelled of feet. We think she would've been much more at home in the U.S.'s first Mid-rise container building, slated to be finished by March 2009 in Salt Lake City. The project, City Center Lofts, designed by container architecture expert Adam Kalkin, is considered eco-friendly thanks to it being constructed from 50% recycled content. Not only is this eight-unit super-condo located to plenty of Downtown SLC amenities, but is has a few added features of it's own such as on demand water heaters, a green roof, tons of natural light and ventilation, and high performance windows. Did we mention the ground level will house an art gallery. Sounds like paradise on earth, minus the swimming pool. Now, I wonder if the folks who move in get first dibs on displaying their art in the gallery?

Of the top three places architects look for inspiration, we’d say nature would be number one (two and three are always “art” and “the dumpster behind Frank Gehry’s house”). For Orquideorama in Medellin, Colombia (yes, the same place where Pablo Escobar had his cocaine empire), flora is more than just a design concept: it’s the freakin’ design. What looks like wicker platforms are actually pedal shaped, steel-reinforced modular structures. Architects Felipe Mesa and Alexander Bernal wanted their garden to be a garden in every conceivable way, so as the plants propagate, so do the platforms. At the vertex of these cones are self-sustaining gardens that drink up the rain water that gets funneled down. t’s a beautiful, functional space, and makes us realize that our father has a lot of improvements to make on our old treehouse.

In 1982, I was busy wandering around my house wearing kickass Spiderman pjs with footies and learning to put sentences together. Not far away in New York City, the Storefront for Art and Architecture, a not for profit organization ‘committed to the advancement of innovative positions in architecture, art and design’ was being founded. Twenty-five years later, we're both still here. Coincidence? I think not. While after twenty-five years I've ditched the Spiderman PJ's and can string sentences together a little better, the Storefront for Art and Architecture continues to be one of the city's only ‘alternative platforms focusing primarily on architecture and the built environment.’ To celebrate their longevity the organization is expanding their reaches beyond the New York City Metropolitan area with Pop Up storefronts hosting exhibitions in cities all over the world. The first of these opens on April 11th in Los Angeles, and will feature Frédéric Chaubin's CCCP: Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed exhibit in a partially disused printworks space. The exhibit will show for five weeks before it disappears into thin air…or at least is carried away by truck. We recommend seeing it before the latter happens.