A Whole Lot of Holes: Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright rounds up a list of some of the most famous buildings with holes in them, including China’s newest skyscraper, a golden donut (pictured) that appears to be inspired by the Fang Yuan building, one of the world's ugliest. [The Guardian]
Oh Let's Just Buy Them All: Why would you buy a one-bedroom condo on Park Avenue for $18.5 million when you could buy almost three Oprah megasuites in Chicago for the same price? On the one hand, this particular Park Avenue one-bedroom is 3,500 feet—so, bigger than all the co-ops in Park Slope put together—and it was designed by Michael Gabellini of Gabellini Sheppard, a firm that won a 2014 Honor Award for Interior Architecture. On the other hand, three of Oprah's penthouses equals 12 normal luxury condos, since she created her penthouses by buying four adjacent units. On the other other hand, three Oprah megacomplexes do not exist—only one—and we wouldn't want you to settle. [Curbed]
Other news to get you started:
Former Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans running back Eddie George is returning to his roots: landscape design. The Ohio State University landscape architecture major will be a judge on a new design-themed reality show, American Dream Builders. It comes to NBC in March. Weird but great! [The Cleveland Plain Dealer]
San Francisco is facing an affordable housing crisis, but there are surprising number of solutions. [The Atlantic Cities]
New York is looking to put a former piano factory in Queens on the Register of Historic Places. [New York Daily News]
D.C. neighborhood commissioner David Garber snapped this shot last night in Canal Park in the District's Capitol Riverfront neighborhood. That park and pavilion, designed by Olin and Studios Architecture, is only about a year old, but its cosmic cube has already become something of a neighborhood landmark. [The Washington Post]
Hershey is working on 3D-printed chocolate. Not nearly fast enough, but they're working. [The Christian Science Monitor]
This guy built a 1:60 scale 777 airplane out of manila folders. [Wired]
Black is in. According to architecture critic John King, darker shades are trending among buildings in San Francisco. [San Francisco Chronicle]
How does the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs certify artists who are applying for artist loft spaces in Lower Manhattan? It's a little like asking for a definition of art, except there's more at stake. [The New York Times]
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