A rare insight into Kowloon Walled City - As a building services engineer, and someone who is actively involved in building the future, these pictures completely blew my mind. This place was wrong on so many levels, I don’t even know where to begin. Thank god it got pulled down.

“300 interconnected high-rise buildings, all constructed without contributions from a single architect.”

Reflections at Keppel Bay - by Daniel Libeskind. Possibly one of the first completed works by the architectural practice that I find kind of mesmerising. There’s something beautiful about them.

On Office Magazine - Excellent website for what’s going on in the world of contemporary architecture and design. Been on a bit of a mission to filter out the good ones. Shame their RSS feed is not a full feed, but rather a snippet.

City of Culture of Galicia - This project seems completely insane. The architects are Eisenman Achitects . Spain is definitely one of those places that truly inspires greatly mad architecture.

Architect’s Sketchbook - Nothing in particular grabbing my attention, but it’s always nice to see what’s going on in the world of architecture. I do feel a bit displaced from it at the moment, so I’m going to need to try and get myself back into it again and start subscribing to some architecture magazines and getting some more books in the near future.

Apple store in Covent Garden - This is significant, because one of my best buds (Stathis) was the main MEP contractor on the project and has been living and breathing that project for a while now. Good work buddy, it looks awesome.

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2010 by Jean Nouvel - Last year’s Serpentine gallery was pretty bland, it’s good to see that things are going back to normal in terms of the extavegance. This is almost as amazing as the Frank Gehry installation from a few years ago.

Switch Restaurant by Karim Rashid - Okay, I’ve been bashing Dubai a bit too much, so here’s something that I think is actually very elegant and unique in it’s own right.

Dubai architecture you couldn’t make up - I remember the cloud in the sky, because we actually were part of that competition (or supported it), and I read about the twisting tower. It’s a car crash I tell you, I can’t get enough of it.

Travel Through Dubai at 818mph - Great trip on the Dubai metro. What’s interesting to me is I was there like a year ago when this wasn’t even close to being completed, so it’s pretty impressive to have it done more or less. Also it gives you a glimpse of what Dubai is and isn’t (I’ll leave you decide what that actually means).

Open House London - Every year in London, the Open House event happens, where you get to visit different buildings that are usually closed to the public; and every year I end up going NO WHERE. So I think this year will be different, even though it’ll be damn close to the deadline (I’ll have to see how close I am to completing and use this as a treat). Between the 19th and 20th of September.

Tour the Bugatti factory, Molsheim - It’s but a glimpse, but a glimpse I’ve never seen before, for the single most expensive supercar manufacturer in the world.

Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan Mosque - Pictures from the third largest Mosque in the world after Mecca and Madina. I have my views about the type of interiors that have been chosen, specifically the chandeliers, but it’s an impressive looking building nonetheless.

Carbuncle Cup 2009 - Love it. The worst of British architecture.

Ekali Houses in Athens - And here I thought contemporary architecture in Athens was pure shit. This is a truly elegant statement. Interesting factoid is the fact that I went to school in Ekali, which was 40 minute drive every day from our house.

Here & There - A horizonless projection in Manhattan. I would really be interested in something like this for London as it really does provide a unique perspective of a city.

The 2008 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion houses the first structure by Frank Gehry in England (engineering by Arup). Highly recommended if you’re in and around London until the 19th of October.

The Chicago Spire by Santiago Calatrava. It’s not a secret that he’s my favourite contemporary architect at the moment. Good little promotional website. The thing is though listening to the interview, you’d get the impression that high rise residential buildings don’t get made…erm I’d like to disagree there, hundreds of buildings exist that are high rise are not for the corporations at all. This is unique maybe in that it does have a certain level of uniqueness in design, although some of these ideas have been used before in something like the Swiss Re building in London, by Foster & Partners.

Over 1000 photos , but here is a small slither of what is to come:

So this last week I was in Princeton for my ‘little’ project in Egypt. The highlight of the trip without a doubt however was actually meeting Michael Graves. He was very busy looking at all sort of stones and mural paintings and whatnot for this other project that their office is knee deep into, however he spared some time and we had a bit of chat with him (myself, Steven and Reid) and he signed a monograph for each of us. Incredibly nice guy, very softly spoken and has got this great little smile that shows that he’s seriously enjoying himself.

Going through the monograph and buying stuff from their little design store you get a great feeling of all the different things that they’ve had a chance to influence and design. Notably are of course of all the Alessi products.

My price piece however is an Acme Studios pen (designed by MG) which is not only weighty but is a great little writing tool. The closes thing I can give an approximation to is how the front plates of Zippo lighters are used as a design piece, or statement

So you might have noticed a certain lull in activity on the Kode. The main reason is the fact that I’m EXTREMELY busy at work right now. It’s been absolutely insane. The thing is though, it’s pretty standard fare for the summer as most people with kids tend to take their holidays in and around the same time which makes the rest of us crazy ones that are left behind to hold the fort in the meanwhile. The good news is that I’m actually enjoying a lot of the work that I’ve been involved with (not that I haven’t enjoyed my previous work). One of my latest projects is this tiny little project in Egypt. The architects on the project are Michael Graves. We went to see them in Princeton last week and that was actually pretty cool. My first visit back to the states since last year when I went to my brother’s graduation.

I honestly doubt that I’ll be blogging much during August, as I’ve got very little to say and generally soo tired, I can’t even talk. The thing is though that I really miss my website. I miss the interaction with all the crazy cats and dogs on the net. I miss being involved. Hopefully come September I can have more time to remedy this situation.