Alexschi - White.wine

When news of The Hobbit being turned into a firm first broke out, I was quite the giddy camper. After all, it was 11 years ago when I first discovered Lord of the Rings and its epic goodness and I was quite excited for this movie. And with Peter Jackson back at the helm in directing the prequel of the trilogy that made me fall in love with the series, you bet that I was very much looking forward to this movie. So much to the point that I just wanted my last final to be over and for midnight to strike so I could watch. via Reelwire

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Lost Landscape

Brazilian architect Luiz Eduardo Lupatini created a visual musing about the nature of human use of building materials.

He placed his conceptual design “Lost Landscape” at the heart of a quarry which would inspire individuals to confront their preconceived ideas about consumption. There is a notable interplay with positive and negative space as well as the presence of both industrial and natural textures. Monolithic concrete walls and entrances would allow people to navigate the extraction site as if it were a system of naturally occurring caves. See more on the winning Carrara Thermal Baths Competition project here.

Images and text via

“By 1970, the Knights of Walpurgis (later renamed the “Death Eaters”) were an organisation formed of people Tom Marvolo Riddle knew from his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as well as their relations. Nearly all of those recruited were from Slytherin House as students.”

Architecture in Norman Sicily: the Palatine Chapel

Many Normans, Christian descendants of the Vikings, left France for southern Italy around AD 1000. Pilgrims and mercenaries soon became conquerors and rulers. The Norman mercenary Count Roger de Hauteville founded a dynasty that reigned over Sicily for a century. During that time the island became a prosperous and influential Mediterranean superpower.

Under Roger’s son, Roger II, Sicily was characterised by an unusual, but fragile, religious tolerance. Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Greek Byzantines, Christian Normans and Italians lived together in one multi-ethnic kingdom. Roger welcomed scholars of all races and faiths to his court and a new art and architecture emerged from the mixture of influences, centred on the king’s court at the Norman Palace in Palermo.

At the heart of the palace, the Palatine Chapel (Cappella Palatina) was the jewel in the crown of Roger’s architectural achievements. It was consecrated on Palm Sunday, 28 April, in 1140, although its decorations were not entirely completed at this time. It combined a church with a hall for royal audiences, complete with platform and throne. Byzantine mosaic artists adapted their skills for western church architecture. Southern Italian artisans made the inlaid marble floor. Most impressive, however, was the ceiling created by Fatimid woodworkers and painters from North Africa. Star-and-cross patterns framed by ‘honeycomb’ vaulting created a complex stalactite structure. Every inch was plastered and painted with Arabic inscriptions and scenes from Roger’s court, which was based on that of the Fatimids in Egypt.

In this video Exhibition Curator Dirk Booms gives a quick introduction to the chapel and its impressive decoration.

Learn more about Norman Sicily and its unique art and architecture in our exhibition Sicily: culture and conquest (21 April – 14 August 2016).

Sponsored by Julius Baer

In collaboration with Regione Siciliana

Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily. © Prefettura di Palermo, Servizi Comuni Siciliani.

Architectural maquette #architecture #architecturemodel #exhibition #mudec #milano 📷: @spysil snapchat❌nextarch

Kristjana S Williams

​"Sometimes you see something so absolutely the opposite of your usual style that it stops you in your tracks and makes you smile.  And perhaps even m​akes you question what you thought you liked.​​ I am a minimalist and a modernist, I like calm; I like grey.  I like simplicity; I like the understated; I like quiet clean lines and white space.  But then along came Kristjana S Williams“ ~ Katie Treggiden, Confessions of a Design Geek