{Lego builds and thrills}

Lego sofa. Image: Apartment Therapy

Ah, those trusty coloured bricks. For years they have been the comfort of many a child and, to be honest, probably an adult or two along the way. Yes, Lego certainly folds a fond space in Bright.Bazaar's heart - I remember all those years building Lego airports, trucks, islands, cars and many more. However, I never imagined anyone building a whole house out of the little plastic cubes. Well, Top Gear's James May is going to do just that and as we've not had a chat about all things architecture for a while - why not check out this great blog, which features 20 famous skyscrapers made out of, you guessed it, Lego. Brilliant! Oh and if you fancy harking back to your childhood, then you can volunteer to help James build his Lego house here.

{The Richard Rogers Partnership - architectural geniuses}

When it comes to architecture that is so simple, yet so stunning, the Richard Rogers Partnership certainly knows how to do it. The partnership is responsible for some of my favourite buildings, including the Madrid Barajas Airport (winner of the RIBA Stirling Prize) with it's sweeping wave-like roof made of prefabricated steel. Supported by structural 'trees', painted in gradually changing colours to signify the airport's zones, the roof is clad in bamboo strips. This is not dissimilar to the roof of the Welsh Assembly building, also designed by the Richard Rogers Partnership.

Having their name to other great buildings, including Heathrow Terminal 5, is an achievement in itself. However, one of my favourites is the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Having visited the building I remember feeling a real sense of becoming part of it as soon as I entered. The partnership describe the building as a "giant climbing frame" - a description that will ring true to anyone who has travelled up the quirky external escalator that graces the front of the building! Let's take a look at some of these great buildings...

Centre Pompidou

Heathrow Terminal 5

National Welsh Assembly

Madrid Barajas Airport

{Jorn Utzon - a tale of inspiration}

With three work colleagues currently holidaying down under, I was inspired to read up on some of Australia's fantastic and inspiring architecture. I was browsing Borders on the weekend when I stumbled upon Vogue Living Australia - a brilliantly written and photographed magazine, with features on the best of Australian architecture and interior spaces. Whilst reading I felt shocked that I had not considered the country's architectural influence more, so I set off to find out more...

It would be impossible to write about Australia's buildings without a nod to the late Jorn Utzon, the man behind the world-famous Sydney Opera House. I was fascinated to learn that there are 1,056,006 tiles on the roof, which Utzon wished to be glossy but not glaring. It took him three years to find the desired effect - one which was finally produced by a Swedish company, who replicated the look of a Japanese ceramic bowl that Utzon liked. It's fascinating to understand how such a recognisable building came to life - something as simple as a ceramic bowl decided the look of the iconic sail-like roof that stands today. Even more interesting was to learn from a friend that a man named Richard Weston, who lectures at Cardiff University, had a lasting influence over Utzon's works. Utzon said in an interview with The Guardian in 1970 that he had "the best job in the world", as it gave him "the possibility with a number of people to concentrate fantastically upon an extraordinarily great structure for a purpose which was not for profit, but for stimulus of the mind." And well, stimulate the mind he did - let's take a look at the Opera House in all it's glory...