One-of-a-Kind Treasure (June 1, 2011)

Architecture is a big interest of mine. The first college class I ever took was an introductory architectural drafting class (using pencils, not Auto-CAD!). For a minute I considered becoming an architect but really, I’m an artist at heart and the idea of having to modify my creative ideas into something that would be both plum and level just felt too constricting!

Still, I love architecture and for a while now I’ve been meaning to blog about some great buildings. (But I’ve been very busy doing creative stuff, blogging about creative stuff, and making lists of other things to blog about.)

A minute ago I came across a photo online that has halted me in my tracks. The other four things I was working on simultaneously will have to wait a second because this house is so cool! For a while now I’ve been plotting about creating some kind of interesting outbuilding in our back yard. Depending on my mood, this building sometimes takes the form of a cute artist's studio/gardening shed with a green roof (more on this another time. Green roofs just came across my radar a few months ago and I LOVE the idea of putting a bunch of succulents on a roof.). In other moods, I think I'd like a quonset hut green house. Other times I envision building a hodge-podge, funky building made of old windows, with nothing matching. A true artist’s creation! That’s why this photo spoke to me so much. I’d never seen anything that looked like the image in my head.

This building is in Christiania, Copenhagen, although the architect/builder is unknown. It’s made completely from reclaimed materials, and there is a move to make it a historic building.

Let’s talk reclaimed materials for a second. It’s a great idea as it prevents those materials from going to landfill. But in all honesty, my interest in turning one thing into another is mostly rooted in the creativity it inspires. You’re forced to be extra imaginative when repurposing something, as opposed to starting out with a completely blank slate.

We’ll talk architecture again soon. Right now I’m off to the kitchen to repurpose last night dinner into today’s lunch!