Cup handbags

I spotted these cute little cup handbags over on HolyCool. They’re made by Koziol and fit snugly on the side of your favorite cup or mug and hold a special little treat until you’re ready to dunk.

Available through Design3000.

Alarm Dock

Jonas Damon’s Alarm Dock turns your iPhone into an old-school looking alarm clock. All you need is a flip clock app and you’re set. Made me smile.

(via BBlinks)

DIY Shower Curtain

Who said shower curtains have to be a bore? This shower curtain comes complete with a permanent black marker to Draw-It-Yourself. 

The Souk, Abu Dhabi Central Market by Foster + Partners

Foster + Partners have completed a new shopping centre that combines high-end boutiques with independent local food and craft markets on the site of a historic city marketplace in Abu Dhabi.

The new Souk Market has been designed as a sequence of courtyards and alleys, integrating balconies and colonnades.

Sliding roofs and walls enable controlled ventilation of the market and patterned stained glass windows mark the entrances.

Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou, China by MVRDV

Dutch studio MVRDV have won a design competition to build a Comic and Animation Museum in Hangzhou, China, formed of eight giant balloon-shaped forms. Each balloon will contain a different function within the museum, including two exhibition spaces that will display cartoons, comics and animations.

The permanent exhibition space will spiral out of its chamber and on through the building to connect with three auditoriums and a comic book library. Where balloons touch an opening is created internally, allowing views between spaces.

Cultural centre in Tirana by BIG

Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group have won a competition to design a mosque, Islamic centre and museum in Tirana, Albania. The three buildings will cluster in a triangle at the corner of the site, with two sides aligned with Tirana’s city grid and the third facing Mecca. Each will twist to curve over a public plaza in the centre, making this public space into an extension of the cultural centre.

The mosque will accommodate 1000 worshippers for daily prayers, with the ability to expand through courtyards and the public plaza to accommodate up to 10,000 people for holy days. BIG won the competition in collaboration with Martha Schwartz Landscape, Buro Happold , Speirs & Major,Lutzenberger & Lutzenberger, and Global Cultural Asset Management.

The information below is from the architects:

---

BIG WINS THE COMPETITION TO DESIGN A MAJOR CULTURAL CENTER IN ALBANIA

BIG, Martha Schwartz Landscape, Buro Happold , Speirs & Major, Lutzenberger & Lutzenberger, and Global Cultural Asset Management are today announced as the winning team of the international design competition for a new 27.000 m2 cultural complex in Albania, consisting of a Mosque, an Islamic Centre, and a Museum of Religious Harmony.

The capital Tirana is undergoing an urban transformation which includes the restoration and refurbishment of existing buildings, the construction of a series of new public and private urban structures, and the complete reconceptualization of Scanderbeg Square. This important square is the site of the new cultural complex that will consist of a Mosque, an Islamic Centre, and a Museum of Religious Harmony.

Albania is the crossroads of three major religions: Orthodox Christianity; Catholicism; and Islam. With the recent completion of two new churches, all three religions will now have new places of worship in the heart of Tirana. The complex will not only serve the Muslim community of the city and surrounding areas, but will educate the public about Islamic values and serve as a beacon for religious tolerance.

BIG’s winning entry was selected out of five finalists, including Spanish Architect Andreas Perea Ortega, Architecture Studio from France, Dutch SeARCH and London-based Zaha Hadid.

Alessi’s Light Bulbs

Here’s what happens when Alessi (and three other young designers) try to re-imagine the good old lightbulb. 

Desktop by David Matthew Parker

This desktop is a fun one from artist David Matthew Parker. He enjoys creating puzzle-like patterns and precise rules-based abstracts. The quote is by Eleanor Roosevelt and hopefully it will inspire you each day to take a risk, even if it’s a small one.

Wadi Resort by Oppenheim Architecture + Design

Florida-based practice Oppenheim Architecture + Design have released these images of their proposals for 47 desert lodges at a resort in Wadi Rum, Jordan. The lodges will be carved directly into the sandstone cliff face and the building elements will be made from rammed earth and cement mixed with local red sand.

Sugamo Shinkin Bank by Emmanuelle Moureaux

Horizontal layers of colour protrude out from the facade of this bank branch in Tokyo by Tokyo-based french architect Emmanuelle Moureaux. By night each of the twelve colour bands of the Sugamo Shinkin Bank are brightly illuminated. Three wide light-wells punctuate the interior of the building, which is furnished with coloured furniture and dandelion motif graphics.

The following information is from the architects:

---

Sugamo Shinkin Bank / Shimura branch – open 2011/3

Client: Sugamo Shinkin Bank

Concept: Rainbow mille-feuille

Sugamo Shinkin Bank is a credit union that strives to provide first-rate hospitality to its customers in accordance with its motto: “we take pleasure in serving happy customers.”

Having completed the design for branch outlets of Sugamo Shinkin Bank located in Tokiwadai and Niiza, we were also commissioned to handle the architectural and interior design for its newly rebuilt branch in Shimura. For this project, we sought to create a refreshing atmosphere with a palpable sense of nature based on an open sky motif.

12 layers of color
A rainbow-like stack of coloured layers,
peeking out from the façade
to welcome visitors.

Reflected onto the white surfaces,
these colours leave a faint trace over it,
creating a warm, gentle feeling.

At night, the colored layers are faintly illuminated.
The illumination varies according to the season and time of day,
conjuring up myriad landscapes.