The Andel’s hotel chain have recently opened their fourth designer hotel, featuring interiors by the design group Jestico + Whiles. The 278 room hotel is located in a historic 19th century building in the Polish city of Lodz.

Visit the Andel’s in Lodz website - here.

via Contemporist

Taiwan recently finished construction on an incredible solar-powered stadium that will generate 100% of its electricity from the sun! Designed by Toyo Ito, the dragon-shaped 50,000 seat arena is built with 8,844 solar panels that illuminate the track and field with 3,300 lux. The project will officially open later this year to welcome the 2009 World Games.

Not sure this should go under Architecture or not but it just seemed right.  I know I'm late on this but I'm not really.  I've had several articles about these Frank Lloyd Wright Lego sets sitting in my "Clippings" folder for days now.  I love how anything more than a few hours old on the internet is considered "old news."

Anyway... with my love of all things Lego, I thought these were pretty cool if not sophisticated.

the frank lloyd wright foundation together with lego have just released the frank lloyd wright collection of lego architecture building sets, coinciding with his exhibition 'from within outward' at the guggenheim museum. the line currently consists of six buildings, including two of his most famous and recognizable buildings, the solomon r. guggenheim museum and 'fallingwater'.

Fun Lego Facts:

• Worldwide, seven boxes of Lego are sold every second.
• Heo Young-Ho of South Korea left Lego on the top of Mount Everest in 1987.
• According to Lego, even just two bricks give 24 different combinations.
• All Legos are made equal. Every brick is compatible from the first brick made in 1958 (the year before the Guggenheim was completed and Wright died) to those made today.
• The Lego minifig was born in 1974, and it took another 30 years for them to get proper, skin-colored faces when licensed figures dropped yellow for flesh-tone.
• Kids waste around 5 billion hours a year playing with Lego.

Check out the Lego Architecture Product page for more information when they take down the "Coming Soon" and actually have more information.

In the meantime, check out the rest of the soon-to-be-released sets below.

via Wired and NOTCOT

This is the office of the Selgas Cano architects in Madrid.  Probably not downtown Madrid.  They definitely have a different perspective on their surroundings.

via Today and Tomorrow

Move over IKEA.  There's a new kid in town.  I don't know much about VilaSofa but their modern warehouse fantasy playspace designed by Amsterdam's Tjep is simply beautiful and fun.  For more delightfulness including Tjep's Heineken City, hit the link for their work.

Click an image below to zoom...

via NOTCOT

Check out these pics from the Red Bull Headquarters.  The wooden skateramp looking thing cascades throughout the entire building.  This place is complete with movie theater, gym, and secret-hidden-door arcade.  I'd work here.  Heck, I'd live here.

via The Hundreds

Is it just me or is this new concept they are planning for the Sears Tower in Chicago beyond scary?  I've never been to the transparent walkways over the Grand Canyon but 103 floors up in this thing and I'm gonna need some sort of bladder control.

via NewLaunches

I want one of these and so do you.  We all could use a little more light in our lives.  We sit inside under our florescent suns and in front of our computer screens all day long and then come home and plop down on the sofa in front of the TV.  Well, I'm looking forward to being outside (or underwater) most of the time in the Galapagos Islands next week.  And, even though it's work, It will be good to get outside and reconnect in one of the most isolated places on earth.  I'm sure I'll enjoy it so much, I'm going to wish I was coming home to this...

Question: If you could live inside a Tetris piece, which one would it be?  Pieter Peerlings & Silvia Mertens, architects in Antwerp, Belguim opted for the long skinny piece you hope drops when you're wanting to rack up major points.

Reclaiming the narrow space between two existing buildings, they built this clean, modern 645 sq. ft. home.  "Four wooden floors between two existing walls, hanging in a steel skeleton, organize this house: downstairs for work, dining on 1st, relaxing on 2nd, sleeping on 3rd, and on the roof, go and enjoy the view."