Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

Townsley’s current living space is about 1,100 square feet and completely round and surrounded by thick concrete.

Every room in the structure revolves around the center pillar like a clock — kitchen, living room, office, bedroom — all separated by short partition walls built by Townsley.

via Apartment Therapy Unplugged | Abandoned Nuclear Missile Silo Home.

Their purpose was to provide anti-aircraft fire within the Thames Estuary area. Each fort consisted of a group of seven towers with a walkway connecting them all to the central control tower. The fort, when viewed as a whole, comprised one Bofors tower, a control tower, four gun towers and a searchlight tower. They were arranged in a very specific way, with the control tower at the centre, the Bofors and gun towers arranged in a semi-circular fashion around it and the searchlight tower positioned further away, but still linked directly to the control tower via a walkway.

via BLDGBLOG.

A pair of engineers in London have come up with a “building in a bag” — a sack of cement-impregnated fabric. To erect the structure, all you have to do is add water to the bag and inflate it with air. Twelve hours later the Nissen-shaped shelter is dried out and ready for use.

via Need a Building? Just Add Water.

Interesting article on Inhabitat!

1. Jumbo Hostel in Stockholm, Sweden

We head a bit farther north to visit the Jumbo Hostel, an eco-hostel that soars to the top of our list this summer. This 747-200 logged countless miles during its years of service but an early retirement to the landfill is not in the stars (or skies) for this particular plane. The jet now houses weary travelers in compact 6 square meter rooms. Some lucky visitors may even get to sleep in the cockpit, and soon more rooms will be added to the mechanical part of the plane. The interiors are decorated in simple and modern Scandinavian style and still feature the original lounge and first class seating.

via Inhabitat » Top 5 Incredible Eco-Hotels and Hostels of the World.

In what would merely have been an article about camping equipment in almost any other situation, revamped Italian architecture magazine Abitare recently took a fascinating look at portable mountain climbing shelters.

via BLDGBLOG: The Architecture of Ascent.

Das Park Hotel, Linz, Austria

Who would have thought concrete could be comfy? These renovated sewage pipes are, thankfully, clean and functional and sit on the banks of the Danube, making them a perfect post-industrial bolt hole.

Capsule Hotel, The Hague, Netherlands

Unusual but indestructible, these orange “survival pods” were previously used on oil rig platforms and can be floated in different locations. A James Bond version boasts a DVD player and a Martini-making set.

via The world’s weirdest hotels – Telegraph.

Looks just like the bunkers!

Superior Characters — International Dome House.

The 3,000-square-meter interior space, which once sheltered 2,000 people from flying bombs, now holds 80 contemporary works by artists.

via Berlin’s Boros Collection: From Nazi Bunker to Artistic Haven – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International.

BEDS are on offer for just £6 a night at the world’s first zero-star hotel – based in a converted NUCLEAR BUNKER.

via Zero stars: The Null Stern Hotel in Sevelen, Switzerland, offers basic accomodation in converted nuclear bunker for £6 per night | The Sun |News.

Wrong. No comforts are laid on, at all. This ‘hotel’ proudly bills itself as ‘unfriendly, unheated, uncomfortable and open all year round’. But that’s the point. A stay here is reality tourism writ large, a chance to experience at first hand (albeit handcuffed for part of the time) the brutal, degrading regime of a damp, rotting red-bricked naval jail built in 1905 to house the czar’s mutinous sailors. New management took over in the 1970s: the KGB.

via Handcuffs are included in the room rate, sir | Travel | The Observer.