Giant Robot Store and GR2 News

Last night I went to the member’s preview of Breaking Ground: Chinese American Architects in Los Angeles (1945-1980) at the Chinese American Museum. The Pacific Standard Time-affiliated show’s topic is self-explanatory and very cool, showcasing styles from Googie to Modernist with some photography by Julius Shulman.

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Frank Gehry is looking towards Asia for projects as the US Economy slows. Asia? More like China and India. His quotes aren’t so settling. “One challenge of designing in a country such as China is the lower pay for projects, Gehry said in the interview this week. Architects get paid a percentage of construction costs, which in China are about a third of what they are in the U.S., he said. Further, it says he’s going to open an office in China to work with the locals. Of course you should work with the locals! ““I have over 100 people in my office,” said Gehry, who formed the partnership in 2001. “At my age, I would love only to work in Los Angeles, maybe Santa Monica, maybe Beverly Hills.”” Then spend some of your millions and millions and keep working in the places you want. (Business Week  -Gehry)  
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Hotel of Doom is now set to open. If you’re here, you’ve either done something weird, are working, or are busted. This is the infamous North Korean hotel. Yes, it’s opening, most of us shouldn’t care about this 105 floor building, but the fact is, it took 24 years. That said, the last sentence is troubling. “Earlier this year the regime announced it would shut universities for 10 months and send students to work in factories, agriculture and the construction sector to help rebuild its economy by 2012.” That’s an education! (Telegraph UK – Hotel of Doom)
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Pictures and stories about weird structures and odd houses are all over the internet. You’ve probably heard about the zombie-proof fortress in Japan, of course, and the zombie-proof house in Poland. And chances are you’ve heard all about various narrow, space-saving houses in Japan, Korea, and even here in the U.S. These things are all really cool and very fun to think about, because pretty much everyone has a fantasy of living in a fantastic place in an unusual and special home. For example, we wouldn’t mind living in a really narrow, zombie-proof house in Shibuya. Or Manhattan. The point is, extreme houses and architecture are relatively easy to find these days. But the odd, interesting and quirky things inside otherwise normal-looking structures are harder to find. And these are what have attracted our attention of  late. So read on for brief stories, with links, about some offbeat but interesting homes and the things about them that make them unusual.

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