Interiorgalactic Planetary

When you think of the Beastie Boys, you probably think of the rhymes, the evolving style over the years, the crowning sense of humor so often absent from hip hop.  Not real enough? Not enough solid beats as they wandered into different musical territory?  Just watch, learn, nod your head and try not to smile.  (The payoff at the end is so worth 5 minutes of your life): 

 Now we bring you a belated story of interest: multi-talented Mike D also dabbles in interior design.  Check out the New York Times feature on his redesign of a Brooklyn townhome. [Click Here].

Want to see all the photos not in a slideshow? Fear not, just [Click Here].

For my purposes, I vote for what appears to be a guest bedroom as taking the top prize.  In the cold New York winter, retire to a guest room resembling an upscale boutique beach hotel.  We love it, and in an age of MTV cribs where bigger is always better, cheers to Mike D. Now let's go to White Castle.

Caribbean Brutalism

In discussing all things brutalist in the architectural commentary on our blog, we have not yet examined any hybrids of our favorite type of building.  Now, then, we bring you the aesthetic delight of the Virgin Islands Superior Court complex, to which we give hearty cheers:

I hesitate to argue that this is 1993 building is a brutalist hybrid of sorts.  But I think a case can be made that this complex does represent a combination of both Caribbean and brutalist influences.  The red roof with its Caribbean shapeliness certainly reminds one of typical St. Thomas dwellings (see below), and the structure itself, with emphasis on the concrete, with its strange third floor overhang, and its minimalist window arrangements, does remind us of more typical brutalist pieces.  I heartily approve of this rather cheery take on brutalism, and give you this study as evidence that brutalism does, indeed, continue to live on and influence architects even in our day.