I love doing ten on ten during the spring time. So many vibrant colors to capture. Today started out bleak and gloomy, but I got some great news and it mellowed into a pretty balmy evening so all in all a win for a Wednesday!

Tucked up in there is the first PASS of my set of seven architecture licensing exams! woohoo. It has been really hard to move forward with studying for another exam without knowing how I did on the first one, and getting this letter today really put some wind in my sails. phew.

Jump over to Rebekah’s blog to check out all the other amazing sets. Spring time abounds!

From the depths of my study carrel, it came to my attention that its National Architecture Week again. I’m hoping to share some current inspiration and stories later this week and maybe next, but until then I thought I’d share posts from last year’s NAW and some of our other architecture inspired posts.

Architecture Week 2012 Post Roundup

Material Juxtaposition

Why Can’t Architects Wear Pink

And. .  . NEON!

While I’m at it, I thought I’d ask – what would you all like to know about the field of architecture or about particular buildings (historic and current)? I’d love to talk about our field of study more in this space, but it would be great to know what would be most fascinating.

A couple years ago, D and I came across a vintage acrylic stamp set called “Young Architects” or something similar. Unfortunately it was in pretty bad shape and after playing around with it for awhile we decided it just wasn’t very usable.

I’ve always wondered what sort of fun graphics we could have come up with that set which is why I was so excited to come across the new Paper Neighborhood set on Design*Sponge last week.

Created by the folks at Steam Whistle Press, this clever set lets you mix and match traditional architectural components to your hearts content. Let your building imagination run wild!

We’re back with another installment of Architecture on Trend with the topic on everyone’s minds this month: The 2012 Summer Olympics! (PS, Can you believe they’re half over?) If you’ve been watching the coverage, you’ve seen most of the major shots of the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatic Center, so I wanted to showcase some images and links to information on some of the less publicized architecture of the games. The folks in London really undertook the redevelopment of a huge part of their city to make this happen, which involves a lot of infrastructure that has nothing to do with sport. I was pleased to hear that instead of pagentry and flash, they intended to infuse these facilities with sustainable strategies and features. Hopefully these buildings will help this neighborhood last far into the future (in contrast to some of the facilities in Beijing).

Their whimsical pump stations infuse the spirit of the games with the purple paint but also tell a story in a modern way.

In my opinion, the velodrome is the most beautiful of all the venues, its too bad its not getting as much press time.

A showcase on the design and development of Olympic Energy Centers. Full article on Olympic Infrastructure here.

An explanation of the Orbit Tower. Sort of reminds me of Tatlin’s tower, which I’m not sure is a good thing.

London’s Olympic Park Before + After

Also:

More on the architecture of Zaha Hadid, the female architect of the aquatic center.

Olympic Village – or where the Athletes get rowdy (nothing too spectacular architecturally, but still neat to see).

What has been your favorite building of the games so far?

Last month we did several posts dedicated to National Architecture Week. Being architecture nerds, we thought we’d try to continue the trend of sharing buildings we love more than once a year. So, since we already know I like things on topic, I thought I’d start sharing groupings of architecture following a currently popular trend. First up: NEON! (You knew I couldn’t resist).

I think whats interesting about all of these projects is that the use of bright color is inherent to the success of the project as a whole. Instead of just being a temporary treatment, these buildings really sing because of the neon elements as a part of their design. None of these would be nearly as interesting if you removed that component. Neon as an integral architectural design tool – thats something I can embrace!

Rainbow Panorama at Aros Museum via Black Eiffel 

Kindergarten Dandelion Clock by Ecker Architekten via Architizer

Whitney Museum Addition by Lot-ek via Design Observer

Sugamo Shinken Bank by Emmanuelle Moreaux via Subtilitas

Bishan Public Library by LOOK Architects via Arch Daily

You can find more Architecture Inspiration on my pinterest board dedicated to buildings I think are awesome.