Any good architecture fanboy or -girl knows where to source building eye candy on the internet: ArchDaily, Contemporist, Dezeen. But what about the story behind the pictures, all the little connections that wrap the field of architecture in its insular little bubble? Welp, in the parlance of our times, there’s an app for that. Architizer is a new social media site that aims to link all members of the design/build community, searchable by job titles, location, client, type of project, architecture trends, and so on. And the pictures aren’t bad. Take a look with us after the jump.
This, friends, is a high school GYM in France. What other projects were built in the Ile de France region in 2005? This contemporary renovation of a Haussmanian Paris dwelling is intriguing:
With synapses firing and fiber optic internet cables hard at work, we then make the connection that both projects were undertaken by architect Emmanuel Combarel, along with these. Users can become a fan of individual buildings, or befriend the architect in question, much like an edificial Facebook.
Architizer was founded by partners at the Manhattan firm HollwichKushner, whose own Marc Kushner tells CoolHunting, “I would say it is a nice hybrid between LinkedIn, Facebook and a dating site. It is a professional site with a sense of voyeurism in seeing projects that the architecture press has ignored.” And though features like a job board (two pages long, by our count) and a listing of open competitions, the site appeals to non-professionals interested in architecture as well. “You get to look at sexy images and see the team that designed it.”
After a soft launch party last night at New York’s Storefront for Art and Architecture, the community is abuzz. According to Metropolis, West Coast firms INABA, Touraine Richmond Architects, and Tom Kovac Architecture have all signed up, in addition to heavy hitters like Archi-Tectonics, Steven Holl Architects, and OMA.
Stay up-to-date with Architizer on (you guessed it) Twitter, and join us in a prayer that architect stud Tom Kundig from OSKA drops the graph paper and logs on.