Limes Hotel, Australia by Alexander Lotersztain

Limes is the first in Australia to be a member of Design Hotels, with only 21 rooms Limes is intimate and friendly.

Limes Hotel Brisbane, Australia, by Argentinian designer Alexander Lotersztain

Via: dezeen

Kivik Pavilion in Sweden by Chipperfield & Gormley

The pavilion, which was constructed in only two months, is a sculpture entirely in concrete. Formed of three interlocked 100 m3 volumes – ‘The Cave’, ‘The Stage’ and ‘The Tower’ – the pavilion offers three different ways of experiencing the nature and landscapes around Kivik.

2008 Pavilion, Kivik Art Centre, Österlen, Sweden, by David Chipperfield Architects and artist Antony Gormley.
Via: dezeen

Concept: Strato Cruiser Airship

You have seen Jean-Marie Massaud’s Manned Cloud airship, now another concept for a helium fueled trip around the world. The Strato Cruiser will offer “medium-haul” transits between hubs: transatlantic, transpacific, trans-american or Europe-Middle East routes. Sign me up.

Strato Cruiser, by Tino Schaedler and Michael J Brown.

Elemental Design at Princi Bakery in Milan

When in Milan, forget the Galleria, visit the Princi Bakery — some of the best baked goods we have had in Italy and produced in a significant work of architecture and design. The elements involved in making bread — earth, water, air and fire are all presented in a meaningful way.

The Princi bakery, Piazza XXV Aprile, Milan, Italy, by Claudio Silvestrin

Molecular Gastronomy at The Fat Duck

To call The Fat Duck in the Berkshire village of Bray a restaurant is merely to skim the surface of what has become one of the world’s most distinctive dining experiences. Originally a pub, the Fat Duck was recently voted the best restaurant on the planet, a tribute to the creative culinary skills of Heston Blumenthal, the self-taught chef who has rewritten the rules with dishes such as salmon poached with liquorice, lasagne of langoustine, carrot toffee and smoked bacon and egg ice cream.
The current tasting menu at Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck includes nitro-green tea and lime mousse as well as snail porridge, salmon poached with licorice and mango and Douglas fir puree.

Reservations recommended, three stars in the Michelin Guide, at The Fat Duck

Icon: Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut by Le Corbusier

“Here we will build a monument dedicated to nature and we will make it our lives’ purpose”.

Le Corbusier’s ‘chapel of our lady of the height‘ is a pilgrimage chapel, though on most days more frequented by architectural pilgrims than the intended variety. Perched on a commanding hill above the village of Ronchamp, it is the latest of a long history of chapels on the site. Its predecessor was destroyed in fighting in the Second World War, though much of its stone is used in the walls of Le Corbusier’s building.

The thick, curved walls – especially the buttress-shaped south wall – and the vast shell of the concrete roof give the building a massive, sculptural form. Small, brightly painted and apparently irregular windows punched in these thick walls give a dim but exciting light within the cool building, enhanced by further indirect light coming down the three light towers.

Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France, by Le Corbusier

Converted Monastary, Now a Design Hotel in Maastricht

Located in the city-center of Maastricht, this renovated 15th century monastery of the Crutched Friars offers you a breathtaking synthesis of a veritable Gothic exterior with a sleek, dressed-down modern interior. Many innovative solutions for structural challenges (e.g. a glass elevator connecting the church to the monastery area) only confirm the notion that the sobriety of modern style forms a perfect match for a late-medieval architectural expression of religious virtue.

Kruisherenhotel, Maastricht, The Netherlands, Chateau Hotels

New York City Waterfalls, Public Art Project by Olafur Eliasson

We’ve written before about Olafur Eliasson, the New York Times writes about a new project called “The New York City Waterfalls” a public art project of four man-made waterfalls rising from New York Harbor, some as high as the Statue of Liberty. Organized by the nonprofit Public Art Fund and the City of New York.

The New York City Waterfalls, by Olafur Eliasson

Buy the Book: Studio Olafur Eliasson: An Encyclopedia (Extra Large Series)

Museum: Aomori Museum of Art

Aomori Museum of Art, by Architect Aoki Jun

Concentrated Dutch Design in Schiphol Airport

VIP Centre Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, Netherlands, by Concrete