Interesting news and articles you may have missed last week:
Polish Pop-Up Hotel Made of Recycled Materials (Inhabitat)
Architects Jerzy Wozniak and Pawel Garus decided to solve their city's sold-out hotel problems by creating a pop-up hotel in an unoccupied apartment building. On a very tight budget, the team created Quotel, a comfortable temporary hotel, using inexpensive furniture and recycled elements.
Sustainable architecture in the Americas (Guardian)
From Rio to Cupertino, cities across the Americas are waking up to the benefits of sustainable design.
Bikes of Amsterdam by Charles Siegel (Preservation Institute)
This post is dedicated to all the Americans who have told me that most people can never bicycle, because (1) you cannot carry your groceries home on a bicycle, and (2) you cannot chauffeur children around on a bicycle... These pictures of bicycles in Amsterdam may open their eyes.
An edgy yet cozy urban garden (Remodelista)
In her outdoor compositions (or "3-D collages"), Beth Mullins uses alternative materials mixed with textural plant combinations to create evocative vignettes. We especially like this rooftop garden in San Francisco, where Mullins uses layering techniques to make the most out of a small space.
Thoughts on Blue Urbanism (Design Observer)
As planners and designers, we need to take up the mantle of blue urbanism. Just as green urbanism challenges us to rethink sustainability at the city scale, blue urbanism asks us to re-imagine ourselves as citizens of a blue planet. How can we become better stewards of the world's oceans?
Cities and Suburbs as New Economic Generators (The Atlantic)
In the wake of recession, cities and suburbs are being knit into giant city-states, with millions of people and billions -- even trillions -- of dollars of business.
A House That's Business in Front, A Party in Back (FastCo Design)
One one side, you've got exotic foliage sprouting wildly off a curving facade; on the other, a wall of flat, symmetrical windows that could pass for the front of an office building. We like to think of the place as the architectural equivalent of a mullet.
Transportation Reauthorization Plan Revealed (Infrastructurist)
John Mica, chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, rolled out a proposal that would authorize $230 billion for transportation infrastructure spending over six years.