Unusual Life

Robert McLaughlin, who has created the fabulous website KC Modern and also the blog http://www.kcmodern.blogspot.com/, has photographed dozens of modern homes in Southern California. Above is a photo from a set called SoCal Modern Residential.

Oh My God! was the first Art Car created by artist and filmmaker Harrod Blank. At the age of 16, Blank became embarrassed by the blandness of his all-white Volkswagen and painted a rooster on the driver’s door. He never stopped decorating the car, which ultimately served as the springboard to his career in building Art Cars and documenting the Art Car movement.

Unusual Life is based here in Seattle, and we’re excited because Harrod Blank is bringing “Oh My God!” all the way from the Art Car World Museum in Douglas AZ to Seattle for the Art Car Blow Out. The film “Automorphosis” will play Thursday June 17th at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle at 7 and 9 pm where “Oh My God!” and other art cars will be parked outside. Then he will attend the Seattle Art Car Blow Out from the 18th -20th at the Fremont Fair and the film will show again on the 21st at the Central Cinema at 7 pm. The filmmaker and other art car artists will be in attendance.

So if you live anywhere near Seattle, please stop by. Unusual Life will be in the Mighty Mighty Elvismobile, so stop by and say Hello!

Space ship house, originally uploaded by MizMagee.

Located on the Richardson Highway, approaching North Pole from Fairbanks. For years it’s been a natural log structure, but he just painted it in a whimsical fashion to the delight of those passing by.

The Cave House in Tulsa, OK, originally uploaded by queenodesign.

“Built in 1920s by Joseph Koberling Sr. and James Purzer. Onetime restaurant and “speakeasy” with Pretty Boy Floyd as a guest. Now the tunnels are currently sealed off. It is rumored that the park across the street, Newblock Park, is a mass grave with the bodies of the black victims from the 1921 Race Riots.”

  

ugly house, originally uploaded by Dept. of Treasure.

The photographer’s caption for this home is “ugly house” but I love it! It’s just so weird and wacky. I wish I knew where it was, I’d talk to the homeowner and get the story. You know it’s gotta be good!    -  Marlow Harris

-  And here is a Flickr Group slideshow of Pink and Purple Houses  -  jodavid

Mountain Googie, originally uploaded by Chimay Bleue.

This unusual building is near Lake Tahoe in Incline City. This was originally an Orbit gas station and has been vacant since around 1998. They’ve been arguing about whether to demolish it or turn it into a Visitors Welcome center for years. Most locals are not fond of the building.

It’s a great example of Googie architecture, modern and eye-catching, awaiting the future in the land of tomorrow.

Bizarre Architecture, originally uploaded by caliban23_.

This old milk store has been repurposed into a Vietnamese sandwich shop, but it still sports the original milk bottle and the name Braums Dairy on the sign.

This giant milk bottle is located in Spokane.

This old dairy building has been repurposed into a sign for an RV park in Corpus Christi, TX.

This giant milk bottle is at the Children’s Museum in Boston.

For more photos of large milk bottle buildings, see Giant Milk Bottle group on Flickr.

Museu Dalí de Figueres. Dalí Museum of Figueres. SERIE 01, originally uploaded by ¡arturii!.

A short train ride from Barcelona takes you to Figueres and the fantastical Dali Theatre and Museum. Even lining up to get in, you know you’re in for an intriguing visit.

From Wikipedia : “The Dalí Theatre and Museum (Teatre-Museu Dalí in Catalan language), is a museum of the artist Salvador Dalí in his home town of Figueres, in Catalonia.

The heart of the museum was the building that housed the town’s theatre when Dalí was a child, and where one of the first public exhibitions of young Dalí’s art was shown. The old theater was bombed in the Spanish Civil War and remained in a state of ruin for decades until Dalí and the mayor of Figueres decided to rebuild it as a museum dedicated to the town’s most famous son in 1960. The museum also occupies buildings and courtyards adjacent to the old theater building.”

Dali Museum

Googie Gas Station, originally uploaded by EncinoMan.

Man, this is a beautiful example of Googie architecture, roadside attractions from the Space Age 50′s and 60′s, designed to project hope for the future as we raced to the moon.

Opera House In Pink, originally uploaded by judepics.

Sydney Opera House, lit up pink for Breast Awareness Week.

Obscura Day is an international celebration of wondrous, curious, and esoteric places and you’re invited!

Atlas Obscura, the website compendium of strange and unusual places, is hosting a worldwide tour day on Saturday, March 20th.

Fans of Atlas Obscura are planning weird and unusual tours into places rarely seen by the public and you can view the website to see if your town is listed for this great day celebrating Unusual Life!

Bart Prince is an American-born architect who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is known for his organic and flowing architectural forms that are designed to harmonize with the environment. Pictured is a home he designed for Steve Skilen in Columbus Ohio. The curvilinear glass-and-copper-clad residence had to be beautiful from the air, since Steve comes in by helicopter.

Prince made this home to form hidden lower levels and shored it up with stone walls. Bananas, papayas, guavas and other tropical fruits and flowers grow in the garden, which is enclosed in a domed conservatory near the man-made pond and waterfall.

“We wanted everything to be transparent, not translucent,” Prince says. “There are almost no blinds, draperies or brise-soleils.” Windowpanes, which cover three quarters of the exterior, enclose the storm room. Glass guardrails “join the spaces visually.”

Beams radiate from a central column in the main living area. Above it is the storm room; below, accessible by a ramp, are the pool and garden area. Inside the column are the house’s mechanical and electrical systems. Sandstone quarried on-site was used for the fireplace, at rear.

The master bedroom, which has a private balcony, is set at the top of a spiral staircase that links the four rooms in the bedroom wing.

A 75-foot-long pool winds its way along the lower level of the house. “The owner wanted a lap pool running through a tropical garden, with palm trees and bananas and views of the sky,” the architect says. “The living spaces are arranged around that.”

www.BartPrince.com

Incredible little house that is part-organic, part-pop culture. A miniature Flintstones House of delight.

Interior Seattle Public Library, originally uploaded by michael_troeger2001.

Here are a few cool photos of the Rem Koolhas designed Seattle Public Library. Following the photos of this library is a tour of other amazing libraries around the world, from Huffington Post.

Most Amazing Libraries in the World Part 1

Most Amazing Libraries in the World Part 2