Modernist – Foamboards Blog

Not So Cookie-Cutter: These Modernist Confections Put Your Average Gingerbread House to Shame

January 3, 2015January 3, 2015 Foamboards

Gingerbread houses are one of the easiest ways to get a taste of architecture, whether at an early age or later in life — we don’t judge. Of course, like any art form, there are those who take it way too far (not far enough?). Bergen,, Norway claims that their Pepperkakebyen is the largest gingerbread village, while New York’s Jon Lovitch claims that his 2.5 ton cookie city is the king. Museo Soumaya, Mexico City. Images © Henry Hargreaves. Photographer Henry Hargreaves and Food Styist Caitlin Levin have definitely taken Modernist gingerbreading to the extreme. They designed confectionary versions of iconic museums by architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Herzog + de Meuron, which were display at Dylan’s Candy Bar during Art Basel/Design Miami last year. MAXXI, Rome. The Louvre, Paris. The buildings are made form materials that match each building’s distinct character. Rather than render them in traditional gingerbread sheets with candy canes and icing, the mouthwatering models are made with a variety of sweets. For example, The Louvre is crafted form crystallized sugar glass, while Antwerp’s Museum Aan de Stroom is …

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George Lucas replaces Modernist masterpiece with Cape Cod on a California Beach

August 12, 2014August 12, 2014 Foamboards

George Lucas is making architectural waves again. And it has nothing to do with a museum. In 2012 AN reported that Lucas had torn down 3389 Padaro Lane, a 1981 Modernist masterpiece on the beach by sculptor and architect Sherrill Broudy in Carpenteria, just east of Santa Barbara. Now he’s finished the replacement—designed by Appleton & Associates. And […]

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Venice Biennale 2014: NRJA to Establish First-Ever Database of Latvian Post-War Modernist Architecture

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014 Foamboards

The architects of NRJA have been chosen to curate Latvia’s participation at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. Based on the assertion that “there is (no) modernism in Lativa,” the pavilion’s exhibition Unwritten will confront the lack of research and evaluation of Lativan post-war modernist architecture.

As the curators describe, the insufficient acknowledgment of Lativan post-war modernist architecture is the result of a tricky situation. On one hand, “there is an aversion to anything that occurred during the period of Soviet occupation,” while on the other “there is wave of uncritical nostalgia for the country’s youth and childhood, as well as the superficial hipster joy at the exotic Soviet heritage.”

Though many of these structures would have already achieved “monument” status in other countries, there has been no evaluation of their importance to Latvia’s architectural heritage. At the threat of demolition, these post-war buildings risk never being researched, leaving a period of Latvia’s architectural history unrecorded.

Type project for gas station (1965); Daugavpils 74, Ogre © Zigmārs Jauja, NRJA

Thus the curators of Unwritten plan to highlight the modernism in Lativa and spark a global discussion that will hopefully result in the largest-ever database for post-war Latvian modernist architecture.

Join the discussion, here.