Worried you might have missed something from the world’s most popular urban publication? Have no fear, this article will guide you through the most popular WebUrbanist articles of the year, from terrific tree houses and and insane architectural geniuses to great street graffiti and fantastic transforming furniture. We will also direct you to some of our most popular galleries, guides and roundups of 2008 – and provide you with related links to find even more of our reader favorites on related subjects.
10) Banksy: 7 Sides of the Infamous Street Artist
Banksy is a world-class enigma, a puzzle at times and a punchline at others – some love his work while others regard it as the epitome of vandalism. His identity is unknown but his art and graffiti are everywhere. His work is subversive yet it sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars to rich celebrities at auction. Another WebUrbanist series explores the work, art and history of Banksy and a WebUrbanist gallery shows over 100 of Banksy’s best works organized by approach, type and location. For other subversive work be sure to see the ultimate guerrilla marketing guide and our introduction to guerrilla action and culture jamming.
9) 10 Towering Tree Houses Around the World
Who did not want a tree house as a small child? Many real-life adults have built bigger, better and more bizarre treehouses than most of us ever dreamed of as kids. The examples in this collection (and in the follow-up collection of 15 more amazing tree houses) range from eco-friendly, low-footprint sustainable tree house designs to high-flying, lavish and luxurious treehouses. Interested in all things offbeat and green? Check out our other articles on green art, design and technology as well as WebEcoist galleries on thermal & biomass, hydroelectric & water, solar and wind power designs.
8) 16 of the Most Sexy & Strange Art Hotel Rooms
Why stay in a drab and dull room when you want to have a remarkable and fun vacation? Almost anywhere in the world you can find accommodations that are as adventurous as your destinations. These amazing art hotels and hotel rooms are one kind of incredible visual experience but are far from the only type of alternative hotel experience. There are also castle, jail, art and theme hotels for virtually any kind of urban traveler on land – and for sea-farers there are always extreme houseboats, floating utopias, luxurious private islands or even adaptively reused sea forts for those that can afford them.
7) 5 Incredible Works of Insane Architectural Genius
Most buildings take teams of skilled workers, well-crafted designs and a long history in a construction tradition to produce. These amazing offbeat structures not only defy structural and aesthetic norms – itself a challenge – but are each primarily the labor of a single passionate (and often eccentric) individual. Interested in more architects and artists who break the mold and make amazing houses of all types and kinds or turn ordinary objects into the extraordinary art?
6) 20 Brilliant Bookcases and Bookshelf Designs
There is no reason to settle for a simple shoddy book storage system when you can go all-out and get dual-purpose or otherwise inventive shelving to stand out from the crowd. One of these designs doubles as a set of stairs while another shelf set invisibly hides behind the bottom book. And the furniture does not stop here: also see articles on other incredible furniture and funky fixtures including a series of furniture designs organized by every room inside your house and out.
5) 10 Pieces of Terrific Transforming Furniture
Not interested in your standard sleek and stylish furniture? Want something that transforms or converts or is made from the most unusual of recycled materials? These clever transforming furniture designs range from innovative and space-saving to exotic and spectacular in terms of their origins and designs. Also, you guessed it, there are even more articles on offbea deisngs from prefab and flat-pack to recycled furniture as well as a multi-page category of the site dedicated exclusively to stylish alternative urban furniture.
4) 10 Crazy Cargo Container Homes and Offices
Containers are one of the most ubiquitous built objects on the planet. Solid, sturdy and relatively spacious it is no wonder that many designers have come up with ingenious ways to convert them into usable architectural spaces in a number of creative configurations. You can view even more cargo container buildings and even find out how to design, buy and/or build your own cargo container home but there are many other kinds of recycled architecture, art and design also well worth looking into as well as prefab, contemporary, recycled and future sustainable architectural designs.
3) 10 Most Awesome 3D Graffiti Artists in the World
3D chalk artists are a common find on the web – but images of their works are rarely accompanied by explanations, credits and links to further information. This definitive guide to the most talented 3D street artists collects amazing works of 3D chalk drawings and paintings from around the world – even more of which are featured in this 3D street artist gallery. Still other articles explore geek artworks and geek artists in general while other galleries cover geek art and light graffiti specifically.
2) 24 Gripping Ghost Towns and Abandoned Cities
One of the areas of content on WebUrbanist that readers are most drawn to is the deserted places found in the abandonments section. From urban exploration and building infiltration information and resources to amazing abandoned building, vehicle and HDR galleries there is simply something about these locations that brings out the explorer in virtually everyone. This abandoned city and ghost town gallery will take you on an eerie tour of the most haunting abandonments around the world.
1) 7 Abandoned Wonders of the Former Soviet Union
Featuring deserted gulabs, abandoned nuclear submarine bases and more strangely still places this is part one in a two-part set surreal Soviet abandonments. The web-famous 7 Wonders Series is indesputeably WebUrbanist’s most popular content of all time. What started with 7 Abandoned Wonders of the World (then of America, Europe and Asia) progressed through articles on Underwater, Underground, Island, Engineering, Urban and Green Wonders of the Modern World. These articles will take you on a tour of lesser-known but equally-exciting wonders of the modern world not on most tourist maps.
