There is not enough fantastical architecture out there

Claude Parent passed away yesterday at the age of 93, the world lost a great architect.

We just went to see an exhibition at Galerie Azzedine Alaïa in Paris with three museum projects of his presented the other week.
I am so impressed by the world of Claude Parent, he worked right up until his death, only the the hand-drawn lines were shakier.

There is not enough fantastical architecture out there, I wish that many more of his project were built!

His work is really one of a kind, between utopia and reality, the French pavillon for the Venice Biennale in 1970 for example reminds me, in some ways of one of my favorites, 'Lustiga huset' at the amusement park Gröna Lund in Stockholm. A house which proportions and features takes you through a mind-game where the stairs move, you walk on something that you don't know if it is a wall or a floor. This house will always stay in my memory since childhood in the same way Claude Parent's work always makes you want to explore the world of his oblique architecture.

Vive l'architecture oblique! His work will live on forever.

Project presented by Claude Parent at the 1970 architecture biennale

Project presented by Claude Parent at the 1970 architecture biennale

Project by Claude Parent at the 1970 architecture biennale

Drawing by Claude Parent

Continuous space

One of the things that make me dream the most...is continuous spaces, linear continuous spaces. 

Here are three uninterrupted spaces: two by the SANAA ensemble and one by Ryue Nishizawa on his own.

They are quite similar, responding to the different programs with the same elaboration, the new generation of Japanese continuity.

Teshima art museum by Ryue Nishizawa and artist Rei Naito, photo credits: © iwan baan

Teshima art museum by Ryue Nishizawa and artist Rei Naito, photo credits: Illabo

Rolex learning center by SANAA, photo credits:
© SANAA by Cyrille Thomas

Serpentine pavilion 2009 by SANAA, photo credits:
Archinect

Noémie Goudal 'Observatoires' 2015

I can't get these mesmerizing images by french artist Noémie Goudal out of my head.

Surreal, barren landscapes where abandoned architecture meets nature in a dreamy, theatrical setting...

(Inspired by Jantar Mantar, built in Jaipur, India, in the 18th Century)

Esparon, the house on a mountain

I just got back from helping architect friends to build their house in South of France. One hour from Nîmes, the town with the beautiful light there is a small village on top of a mountain. They bought an old ruin, and preserving the old walls and the layout, they are now building on to it.

There was a full moon, and you could see the moonlit valley and the unfinished roof.
So quiet, you could hear the owl sounds and see the mountains 280 degrees around you.
Everything about this place is just magical.

Daniel Libeskind's home. A film by Matthew Donaldson

Alternative Landscapes by Benoit Paillé

Landscapes and poetry - Photography 'Alternative Landscapes' by Benoit Paillé

Arnarfjörður, Iceland by Haraldur Diego