Anyone who visits Nashville knows that it sits between two worlds, modern and rustic. I was wondering if these two worlds could be combined and sure enough comes this rustic, modern home designed by Tuck Hinter Architects. It’s a beauty with modern design set in a rural setting. The home brings the outdoors in and fits in perfectly with it’s surroundings.

With inspiration from the Dwell House, Deezine.ca and Shift Development came together to build a modern, green, and affordable home designed by an entire community online.  Ideas for the home are posted online and the community can make suggestions for changes. This became the Shift Home. It will be built in late-May or soon there after. This is community work at it’s best.  You can see how the design has changed in the past few months by going to the website.

Although the Chicago Spire is on hold, pending someone who will build the thing, their website is up and the flash animation is very cool and shows how awesome the Spire would be if it was built. The website can be viewed here, just make sure you have time for the entire animation.

In 1909, Daniel Burnham and Edward Bennett collaborated with the Commercial Club of Chicago and others to create a new plan for the greater Chicago region. The year 2009 will be it’s 100 year anniversary and Chicago is celebrating. One only has to look to Chicago’s  and Cook County Forest Preserves to see the success.

From the website, The Burnham Plan Centennial celebrates the Bold Plans and Big Dreams that shaped metropolitan Chicago for the past century and challenges our region’s communities, leaders and institutions to build on the success of the Burnham Plan and act boldly together to shape our future.

The centerpieces, whose designs were recently released, will be focal points of the celebration. The two temporary pavilions in Millennium Park designed by renowned architects Zaha Hadid and Ben van Berkel, UNStudio will open to the public on June 19, 2009 and close October 31.

Well another book on Frank Lloyd Wright has graced the bookshelves at your local bookstore. The Women is a fictional account of Frank Lloyd Wright from the perspective of women he was involved with.

The young Serbian dancer Olgivanna; Miriam, the morphine-addicted and obsessive Southern belle; Mamah, whose life ended tragically in a massacre at Taliesin, his first wife, Kitty, the mother of six of his children. Narrated by a Japanese architectural apprentice named Tadashi Sato.

The Women is the third novel T.C. Boyle has written, based on the life of an eccentric American historical figure.