“Holiday Architecture”

I’m not sure how, but at some point this past year I inadvertently signed up for a newsletter from a site called urlaubsarchitektur. For months I deleted it as spam because the sender was always “www.urlaubsarchitektur.de,” in all lower-case (it’s a German site), but then one time I opened it and learned that it wasn’t junk but a small roundup of “architecturally outstanding holiday houses and hotels” from all over Europe and beyond.

Translated as “Holiday Architecture,” the newsletter delivers photos and brief descriptions of minimalist and painfully beautiful vacation destinations twice a week; recent installations have included a TV-less and “aesthetically perfect” apartment in Bavaria, a wine farm in Austria, and, today, a “Box House” on a private swimming bay in Nova Scotia. (Also a luxurious “Storm Cottage” in New Zealand, white cubes in Greece, and, a personal favorite, this sort of freaky looking Black Shed in Scotland.) The descriptions are often slightly but charmingly stilted in translation — “Who has not ever dreamed of a private swimming bay?” — the photography is ridiculous, the houses surreal. The whole thing’s also kind of horrible if you’re the type to get frustrated by gorgeous places you’ll probably never go, or by the fact that there are people in the world who wake up each Friday, stretch, and open their computer[s?] to see what glorious destination Urlaubs Architektur points them toward next. Although they’ve probably got their own things going on. Anyway, it’s a neat site if you enjoy pretty buildings and imaginary trips. (They’re also on Twitter.)

And they’re not paying me to say this, although if they need me in any way I am totally ready.