fruity pebbz

nErD aLeRt!

The Princeton University Art Museum has just opened an exhibition that treats its campus as an art object.

“Princeton and the Gothic Revival: 1870-1930” examines the intent of the university’s medieval-stylized dormitories, classrooms, libraries and chapels, both when they were first built during the British Empire’s Victorian heyday and today. The galleries are just an appetizer, though, because the campus is literally a museum of what used to be called “collegiate gothic” architecture and you’re encouraged to use a smart phone app to follow its development on a tour.

It’s a more interesting subject than any mere historical study because of the recent completion of Whitman College, the sprawling dorm designed by Demetri Porphyrios, with $30 million provided by Meg Whitman, a Princeton graduate and former eBay chief, who now heads Hewlitt-Packard. Whitman College is, as so many Porphyrios buildings are, a historical revival, too, a gothic fortress on the outside and a software-friendly, James-Bond supervillain lair on the inside (at least, when compared with traditional college housing). Why contemporary students would want to live in a Hogwort’s dream such as the Whitman is really what this show is about. (via)

someone needs to tell the university of tennessee that they're doing it wrong.

bonus link: the atlantic's review of this review

we need to go to the bronx zoo ASAP.

(via)

can i have a rock hyrax?

bioluminescense!

it's pretty much my favorite natural phenomenon ev, and also my answer to the what-super-power-would-you-want question. now, i'm not sure i totally understand this story, but here's the gist:

somewhere near tasmania, there was a buttload of fires caused by thunder and lightning that burned for 69 days. then came a 100-year-flood, washing all these weird ashes with crazy minerals into some lakes. the following summer, as the lake water heated up, an algae outbreak occurred, turning the water bright green. the best part: it was a new species!

and guess what! ........it was bioluminescent!!!!1111

the glowing is activated by motion, which makes it insanely fun to play in, i bet.

read the full story here, and look at a gallery of pixies here.

candy

Photo from Architectural Forum August 1952. New York City. Architect, Victor Gruen. Graphics consultant Alvin Lustig. (via)

upon further internet poking, i found that the store was the leading manufacturer of kosher candy in brooklyn! they sold candy in wonderful tins like this one.

bonus link : a brief history of candy-making in brooklyn.

i want to go to there.

omg y'all, please check out the aMaZiNg video here, depicting the design for the vols' new football training center. it's ridiculously fancy, and is sure to convince all the best players to come play on our team. the video is awesomely over the top, featuring phrases like "multi-level thunderdome of power". and peyton manning is getting his own room!

does anyone know what architecture firm is responsible for this?

i want to go to there.

you know that building near city hall with like 8 J&R stores in it? well this is what the interior looks like. this blog got to tour and photograph it. check. it. out.

 who knew?

i want to go to there.

“The City We Imagined/The City We Made: New New York 2001–2010,” a sweepingly particular new exhibit presented by the Architectural League in a storefront at 250 Hudson Street, chronicles that period of convulsive construction. On one side of a snaking line of panels is the imagined New York: a time line of dreams, fights, proposals, announcements, visions, and revisions. On the other are 1,000 photographs of the city as it really became. (via)

who's with me?

i want to go to there.

Sook Kim's debut New York solo exhibition which shows the progression from her seminal "Saturday Night" series of a hotel in Dusseldorf and other glass buildings in Germany to her latest project featuring facades of glass buildings in New York City. On view from April 1 – May 8. (via)

i want

these puppies are handmade in istanbul of all places. there is a retailer in austin, tx, and it just so happens that im traveling to a wedding there in march. so now i finally have a reason to save my pennies so i can spend them on something important.

i want to go to there

mojave airplane graveyard

i want to go to there

brasilia, brazil