Have you been bitten by the Game of Thrones bug? It took me two seasons before I decided to jump in, but then I binged on both seasons over a very lazy weekend. I was like Fred and Carrie and Battlestar Galactica on Portlandia. Thank goodness there weren’t more episodes available, or I would have lost my job and all sense of personal hygiene.

As a big chair fanatic, I have to wonder why everyone wants this very uncomfortable chair made out of swords so badly. It certainly does not look childproof or tetanus proof or impale your buttocks-proof. However, the sets and locations on the show are absolutely mind-blowing, and always make me wonder just how expensive each episode is to produce. Here’s a look at some high GoT style.

Luxurious bedding. The upper crust in GoT enjoys featherbeds, silk canopies, ornate fringe, fur throws, dmask and gilded details. Much better than those who live in Fleabottom.

Fancy game boards. War strategies include using intricately carved pieces in a medieval version of Risk. Dark gothic castles provide dungeons and turrets.

Uninviting man caves. The men of the Night’s Watch live at the edge, an edge provided by one heck of a wall in the very chilly north.

Tent city. Travel lodging runs the gamut, but those who are privileged are more into glamping.

Caves and classical Greek columns combined. Scary people worship the Lord of the Light inside at the firepit.

Forts. Even the strongest fortifications will not protect slave owners from dragons.

Family pride through design. Your house’s crest is of the utmost importance. People respect and fear houses represented by lions and direwolves much more than ones represented by a golden rose. Something to keep in mind if you’re designing a family crest.

Do you like to geek out every Sunday night to Game of Thrones? Please let me know I’m not alone and leave a comment!

All photos via hbo.com

I am so excited for Museum of Design Atlanta’s upcoming Eero Saarinen exhibit – it starts this Sunday April 14th and will run through June 30, 2013. For those of you who won’t be in Atlanta during that time, I thought we could do a post on Saarinen here to let you enjoy his work too. Here’s a quick peek at a fe of his greatest hits:

The Miller House, Columbus, Indiana 1957: Now owned and maintained by The Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Miller House is open for tours. If you visit, be sure to pay attention the landscape by Daniel Urban Kiley; it’s one of the most spectacular modern gardens in the U.S. and the interior fun provided by Alexander Girard. Tickets sell out fast, so be sure to plan ahead if you’re planning a trip to the modern-architecture rich Columbus! You can buy them here.

photos via The Indianapolis Museum of Art

The TWA Terminal at JFK 1962: The last time I was in this building, it was leaky and there was a bird flying around, but this architecture was all about the Jet Age, back when flying was glamorous and exciting:

photo by Ezra Stoller

John Deere Headquarters, Moline, Illinois 1964: After catching the eye of John Deere’s president, William Hewitt with his designs, Saarinen designed the striking headquarters for the company. The project is a wonderful example of modern architecture living in harmony with its surroundings:

photo via johndeere.com

The Gateway Arch in St. Louis 1965: One of the most iconic structures (at 630 feet high, it’s also the tallest monument) in the U.S. is also by Saarinen. Again, he teamed up with Dan Kiley to complete the landscape. Isn’t this picture crazy? It gives me vertico just thinking about it, and it also makes me miss my erector set!

Saarinen’s furniture designs continue to be some of the most popular examples of mid-century modern style today.

He designed the Womb Chair (1964) at the behest of his good pal Florence Knoll, who wanted a chair she could curl up in. If one wants to stretch out in it, the matching ottoman is a great addition.

Of course, his tulip table, a.k.a. Knoll Saarinen Table (1956), is one of the most iconic pieces of furniture from the mid-century modern period. Saarinen was not fond of legs and wanted a cleaner look when it came to kitchen and dining areas. “The undercarriage of chairs and tables in a typical interior makes an ugly, confusing, unrestful world,” he said. “I wanted to clear up the slum of legs. I wanted to make the chair all one thing again.”

For a typical kitchen table with four legs plus four chairs, Saarinen decreased “the slum of legs” from 20 legs to 5 pedestals. Not too shabby!

For those of you in Atlanta during the next few months, be sure to check out MODA’s Eero Saarinen exhibit!

What have you all been checking out on the web lately? I’ve been all over the place and yet seem to wind up in the same old places as well, like a favorite, Colossal: 

Colossal introduced me to these wire birds perched in trees in Geneva, created by Cédric Le Borgne and part of an outdoor tree lighting festival. Of course, if you have ornithophobia, waking up and looking out your apartment window at this could be dangerous for your health.

I also took a thorough virtual tour of Bob Hope’s desert home, now on the market. This home is supposed to look like a volcano and was designed by beloved architect John Lautner. It’s over 23,00o square feet, which is crazier than living in a volcano. It has views of the Coachella Valley, so I’m very curious to know if you can see TuPac’s hologram from the patio during the festival.

Take the tour over at Zillow’s blog. Be sure to check out the e-brochure, as the sketches and black and white photos are quite breathtaking.

Speaking of popular architects, it’s been about a week and a half since we found out Toyo Ito won the Pritzker Prize, but it takes awhile to get to know the body of work from his long career. Whenever I need a little break from work, I head on over to Toyo Ito & Associates for inspiration.

Speaking of breaks from work, I love to giggle over Passive-Aggressive notes dot com, don’t you? The busting of Alex really cracked me up. I picture this guy having Popeye arms and a serious tab down at GNC.

What are you checking out on the internet this week? Shoot us a link in the Comments section!

As a kid, A-frame houses always fascinated me; we’d look for them on family road trips like we looked for punch buggies and Alaska license plates. It was probably this awesome Fisher Price A-Frame; it was quite a contemporary  step up from the barn and more relaxing than the airplane:

Below is the house that launched a thousand A-frames, designed by architect Andrew Geller in Long Island NY and built in 1955. It’s known as the Reese house and is responsible for the surge in A-frame popularity in the fifties through the seventies. If you’re looking to extend your break from work right now, be sure to read this article by Alastair Gordon and check out more stunning shots of Geller’s work.

It was this super cool A-frame in ReadyMade magazine several years ago that recaptured my imagination, in fact, I’m pretty sure I blogged about it at the time.

These cool A-frames on the beach in Texas sure beat the heck out of a crumbling motel:

A-frames also inspired groovy ads and prints that have big time retro appeal today, like this one from SVPPLY:

If you’re really going for a kitschy look, check out this tall narrow A-frame outhouse:

I don’t know what I love more, the genius new addition on this classic A-frame in Belgium or the way the Panton Chairs look on its deck. See more of this addition by dmvA Architects over at i.d.

Finally, designers are using the the original A-frame silhouette as inspiration for incredible new architecture, like this one located in the Pyrenees, designed by Cadaval & Solà-Morales:

Finding fab a-frames is so easy on the internet that I thought we should have a little collection to admire. We’ll keep collecting them in our new A-frame Pinterest board. If you have any you’d like to share, please shoot us a link in the Comments section.

Lately the clever ways architects and photographers have been showing off architecture with colorful lights has been catching my eye. Case in point: Hotel G in Hong Kong, found via Tablet.

Those of you who have stuck with this blog for a long time know that I have a think for buildings that remind me of playing Jenga (which I stink at, by the way). I spied this rendering of Vertical Omotesando by WAI Architecture over on design boom and my Jenga hand got the shakes with excitement. I love the smaller lit volumes within the greater tower’s volume. According to the article, this assemblage was inspired by the horizontal rhythm of the buildings on the street below. The icing on the cake is the way they rendered the glowing colors inside.

This sculpture by Brooklyn artist Tom Fruin has been making the rounds, physically and online. It’s called Kolonihavehus, after modest garden sheds in Copenhagen. It’s made of over 1,000 reclaimed pieces of plexiglass. I’m not sure which is more striking; the shot of it all lit up at night, or the way it glows in broad daylight:

If you don’t already know the rest of this building, you’ll be very surprised when you see it, which is what makes this colored wall even more of a delight. It’s the Solar S. Roque Gallery by Manuel Maia Gomes, and it’s located in Vila do Condo, Portugal. Be sure to check out the rest of the virtual tour at ArchDaily.

Spied any Light Bright magic around lately? Please shoot us a link or a photo in the comments section!