Archiquarium

Modernist two-story homes for fish friends

Unless you go custom, aquariums rarely do much to elevate the humble fish’s status anywhere close to that of furry four-legged friends. Swedish designer Karl-Oskar Ankarberg has taken on the plight of the fish, designing an attractive split-level home called the Archiquarium. Ankarberg makes the upper level of his “modern living for trendy goldfish” out of white Corian with black Corian for the ground floor, …

Urban Shed International Design Competition

Re-imagined scaffolding hits the streets of NYC with three finalists' winning prototypes

by Passa C Protecting pedestrians from both debris and the rain, NYC construction scaffolding is a major part of the urban landscape yet mostly considered an inconvenient eyesore. With nearly 6,000 sheds spanning more than 1 million linear feet throughout the city, NYC Department of Buildings along with several partners challenged designers to re-think these sheds with the Urban Shed International Design Competition. The team …

Zilla Spring/Summer 2011

Sponge and cork in a former architect's surprising handbag collection

Sylvia Pichler, a young Italian architect, prefers designing handbags over skyscrapers. Drawing on industrial materials typically reserved for insulation, interior decoration or even air filtering, Pichler creates curiously elegant bags under the moniker Zilla. The Zilla Spring/Summer 2011 collection consists of simple yet extremely feminine bags in a variety of styles. Special filters, natural cork, aluminum foils, bast fiber, rubber and synthetic sponge combine with …