For those who like photos of abandoned places, here are some taken by French photographer Aurélien Villette of Abkhazia, recognised as an independent state by Russia, while almost everyone else considers it still a part of Georgia. The photos show ruined and abandoned buildings, one series focussing on those from the 1950s.

Gallery on LensCulture( ( Read more... )

The English House of the Future (predictions from Strand magazine, 1903), courtesy of
( Read more... )

A tale of an award-winning design for a seminary, its construction at the wrong time (from the point of view of changing church priorities), and a proposal for giving the listed shell a new purpose ...

BBC News In Pictures

This entry was originally posted on Dreamwidth here, where it has
( Read more... )

An interesting, if fairly short, BBC article on changes in Antarctic building design. These days, they mostly look like James Bond sets, but there's some really impressive work going into them - whether from the viewpoint of energy efficiency or consideration for the needs of the occupants for various sense cues that are otherwise in short supply ( Read more... )

A couple of weeks ago, valkyriekaren and I went on one of the London Goth Meetup Group's "Goth Walks" - number twelve, a whistle-stop tour around some of London's churches, including mini-lectures on various sites on the route, a tour guide in cassock and biretta (he is actually an Anglican priest, so technically they were his work clothes, although the hat was ( Read more... )

'Architect secretly builds scavenger hunt into apartment design.'

That's one for the Myst fans, I think!

Link from bibliogirl.

The schedule is here, for those that might be interested. 20th June to 20th July, 2008.

Including at least one event including cake. Oh, and another food one.

Here.

Although, admittedly, it's more "27 floor private tower block" than "house". Sounds somewhat special, though (they currently live in a customised 22 storey block). One reason for the cost is that no two floors are to be the same - either in materials or floor plan ...

It's pretty ... impressive ...

I'm partly posting this for my own reference, but mostly because it's damn amazing.

Tunnel network with nine temples hidden under house in Italy¹.

They're stunning (in a New Age cultish kind of way). And go to show what a small group of dedicated (if strange) people can do ...

Links from valkyriekaren, here.

¹ Apologies, but the link's to the Daily Mail ( Read more... )

Here are the photos from last week's visit to Bodiam Castle with cookwitch, including a detour to Lamberhurst Church and an assortment of small birdlife. And, as a special bonus, I found the photos from our visit to the St Pancras Hotel in 2004, although these were taken with the old Sanyo Digicam, so are a bit small and grainy. I should really have taken ( Read more... )