Duck Goes Moo!

German architecture company Vitra has a campus dedicated to exploring and showcasing their innovations in modern architecture.  One of the more amazing buildings there just opened: the VitraHaus.

Located on the northern side of the campus in front of the fenced perimeter of the production premises, the VitraHaus joins two other buildings in this area, the Vitra Design Museum by Frank Gehry (1989) and the Conference Pavilion by Tadao Ando (1993).

 

- from DesignMilk.com

The complexity of the interior space arises not only from the angular intersection of the individual houses but also from the integration of a second geometrical concept. All of the staircases are integrated into expansive, winding organic volumes that figuratively eat their way through the various levels of the building like a worm, sometimes revealing fascinating visual relationships between the various houses, at other times blocking the view. The interior walls are finished in white in order to give priority to the furniture displays.

 

- from DesignMilk.com

Simply breathtaking, though perhaps not big on privacy, though I imagine this is not the main point. I just wish the horizon was a little more verdant, but perhaps this is just winter time and they are having a seasonal shortage of foliage.

There has been much talk lately about pediatricians wanting to invent some sort of choke proof hot dog.  Supposedly, it’s a major killer of kids under fourteen.

I can think of a great way to make hot dogs choke proof and it comes from an dumb holiday joke.

“Q:What do you call an empty hot dog?  A: A hollow weenie”

Just hollow out the hot dogs length-wise, providing a tunnel running down the length of the hot dog that would allow the kid to breath through the hot dog even if it became lodged.

Does that sound possible?  Or would the “tunnel” running down the length of the dog collapse under the pressure of the kid’s esophagus?