On Sunday evening, a select group of Los Angeles design luminaries will converge at the intersection of fashion and architecture -- Katy Rodriguez's show at John Lautner's Harpel residence. Models and It Gals like Chloe Sevigny and Christina Ricci will be wearing Rodriguez's latest designs and mingling with guests including artists Shepard Fairey and Raymond Pettibon.

Judging from the collection, it feels like the perfect setting -- the clothes have an architectural quality, and they're filled with the rich, subtle detailing that distinguishes good design from the ordinary, or the ostentatious.

The Harpel house has been meticulously restored by Rodriguez's business partner Mark Haddawy. He's spent the past two years removing a superfluous second story and bringing the house back to its original, sublime logic.

Between the high fashion and the cityscape below, the views should be pretty spectacular. Check out the gallery to see a few images of the Harpel house and more pieces from Rodriguez's Spring/Summer 2009 collection.

HenryBuilt -- the design team long favored by discerning architects and their customers -- has recently launched its Whole House Line, essentially sleek-ifying every niche of your home from the library to the laundry room. The custom line is all rift-cut oak, walnut, stainless steel, teak: rich woods in a classic modern style.

The pieces aptly synthesize engineering and craft, meaning they can live in your home for a lifetime. Feelgood bonus: HenryBuilt uses a wide range of renewable or recycled materials.

A New York fixture since 2001, HenryBuilt has just opened a new showroom in Seattle, where the company first began. If you're Pacific Northwest bound, check out the goods at their opening party on September 18. 997 Western Ave., Seattle. Their NYC shop is at 79 Grand Street.

The soon-to-open Kimber Modern in Austin, Texas eschews the typically quaint look of the standard bed and breakfast. Kimber Cavendish and Vicki Faust shared a dream of launching a unique hotel in the hip Soco area of Austin. Architect Burton Baldridge has created an angular retreat that offers six rooms, a tranquil courtyard and a light-filled common area that includes a multi-level deck. Breakfast is self-serve and available from 7 to 11 a.m. The Kimber Modern opens to guests on October 10 and is now taking reservations. Standard rooms are $295-$320 a night, suites, which include a seating area with a custom couch designed by Burton Baldrige are $350 to $395 per night.

A really great, oversized design book with beautifully-reproduced images can sometimes actually transport you to another place. Such is the case with a new volume titled New Seaside Interiors, edited by Angelika Taschen, which is anything but a mishmash of coastal clichés. Forget what you think you know about nautical décor; with examples of brilliant seaside design on all five continents, from Iceland to Chile, the architecture in this book harmonizes with the ocean in ways that go far beyond sprinkling a few seashells around the guest bath. From fashion designer Pierre Cardin's Bond villain-style floating house in St. Tropez to Dolce & Gabbana's eye-popping seaside villas in Italy, this is the né plus ultra of seaside style. See the gallery for more.

A luxe new coffee table book called Dream Homes: Coastal California (Panache Partners, $34.95) showcases over 40 of the region's finest architects, designers and builders. Focusing on Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Monterey Counties, it features 250 photographs of breathtaking designs such as the Villa Beaumont pictured above, an Italian-Renaissance country villa in Santa Barbara by Sorrell Design based on the work of the great 16th-century architect Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola. From multimillion dollar classical revival mansions to modernist beach dwellings, no expense has been spared in realizing clients' dreams (hence the title). See the gallery for a tour.

In Kuwait's plans for Silk City (Madinat Al Hareer), no one will ever be more than three blocks from water or gardens. A vast National Wildlife Refuge is in the works. And medical treatment along with fresh, healthy food will be accessible on foot for 80% of residents. The centerpiece of the hugely ambitious project will be the tallest building in the world, the Mubarak al Kabir Tower, at 200 stories and comprised of seven distinct "vertical neighborhoods." (Fun fact: the tower will reach to 1,001 meters, an imposing physical reference to the Arabian Nights tale.) Add to that the four main quadrants of the city: Finance City, Leisure City (I'm totally moving there), Culture City and Ecologic City, and what is ostensibly an architectural feat becomes an experiment in crafting entire ways of life. With government investment of $132 billion, London-based design firm CivicArts/Eric R. Kuhne are ready to break ground ... and continue its labors until the estimated date of completion for Silk City, 2023.

Investors in the project state that their hopes to renew Kuwait's cultural influence are highly motivational, and the idea is based on the crucial links established over a thousand years ago when Kuwait was a center on the silk trade routes. Now planning to link itself with cities like Damascus and Baghdad, stretching ultimately all the way to China, Kuwait intends to reestablish its connectivity in more than just symbolic measure.

Clearly imitative of nearby architectural playgrounds like Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Silk City and all its outrageous goals does come off feeling a bit more commercial than its underlying motives might imply. They're tossing around terms like the "Arabian Riviera" and plan to incorporate such enclaves as "Film City" and multiple "pleasure facilities." Maybe it's that the intentions aren't just outrageous but highly-regimented. The planners are busy designing 28 different "lifestyle zones" specifically branded by interest (sports, film, media, etc.). While all the bells and whistles sound pretty awesome (in the true sense of the word) the overly manufactured quality of every detail -- especially the neighborhoods, oops "lifestyle zones," which force homogeneity not diversity -- make this huge community appear rather disconnected after all.

I guess we'll have to reevaluate in 2023. But judging from a fairly recent visit to Dubai, a model of speedy construction and ambitious contemporary architecture, I'd be willing to bet Silk City is operational much before then. Those oil prices don't hurt the timeline, either.

The skyline of Paris has remained relatively unchanged for the last 18 years but the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, is seeking to change that and has presented a bold new plan to the city council. It's currently against regulations to build higher than 37 meters (121.4 feet) in the capital and there hasn't been a new skyscraper built in 18 years. But Delanoë believes that new buildings could help ease the city's housing shortage. Even though nearly two-thirds of Parisians are said to be against relaxing the building rules, the mayor said that a public official's responsibility is to act in the best interest of the public rather than just pay attention to polls.

The council has voted in favor of studying the plan and the citizens will be allowed to weigh in at a conference next year. The plans include a 200 metre pyramidal tower next to the Porte de Versailles with a four-star hotel but other planned residential projects are in the 50 meter range. Advocates say this type of architecture is necessary in order for Paris to compete with other "global cities" like London, Tokyo and New York. Critics say that Paris is beautiful as is and that dramatic new architecture would damage the city's famous charm. Check out the potential new Paris in the gallery below.

You can now monitor progress on Frank Gehry's amazing Hall Winery project in the Napa Valley via a live video feed. Last year my colleague Deidre Woollard told you about the ambitious plan for the new facility built around the original 1885 winery south of St. Helena. Progress is proceeding apace on the project, which artfully blends avant-garde architecture with existing historic structures. The live cam is the latest addition to the Gehry plan web features, which include a project gallery and time-lapse camera showing progress to date. Hall's new 110,000-square-foot complex of six buildings, which broke ground last summer, is slated to open in 2010. Pictured above is Gehry (center) and associate Edwin Chan (left) with winery owners Kathryn and Craig Hall (right) discussing the architect's model for a new Visitor's Center, an all-glass structure supported by a "floating" trellis overhang. See the gallery for more.

Photo by Grant Mudford

The Lone Star State, which was part of Mexico until 1836, is not particularly known for its architectural treasures. There are some amazing estates scattered among its vast tracts, however, as author Lisa Germany and photographer Grant Mudford reveal in their excellent new book, Great Houses Of Texas (Abrams, $50). The Texan landscape -- "combined with the larger-than-life personalities who were drawn to the brutal hardships of the frontier and the architects who designed these extraordinary homes" -- is the unifying theme of the 25 houses, ranging from the intimate to the ornate, collected in the book. Among them is the beautiful Crespi Mansion in Dallas, designed by Swiss architect Maurice Fatio in 1939, pictured above; and the Nowlin House in Austin designed by Paul Lamb in 2002, which was partially based on Mayan ruins. See the gallery for more.

Photo by Scott Frances / Esto

Every edifice ever built by rationalist architect Richard Meier -- and then some - is featured in a new mega monograph about to be published by Taschen: Richard Meier & Partners: Complete Works 1963-2008. The extra-large $150 volume showcases Meier's entire career to date, including such stunning commissions as the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the City Hall and Library at the Hague and the beauteous Southern California beach house pictured above. Meier, one of the world's top architects - or "starchitects" as he and a select few of his contemporaries such as Frank Gehry and Rem Koolhaas are known - has an insatiable appetite for large swaths of white, but it works (to say the least). Meier will be at Taschen's New York store to sign copies on June 3rd from 6 - 8 p.m. You can preview the book in the gallery below.

The British architecture firm Foster + Partners has unveiled a new design for yet another planned city in the Middle East. Their latest, Al Madina Al Zarqa, the Blue City, will be a new coastal city near Muscat in Oman. Al Madina Al Zarqa, the Blue City, will be home to 200,000 people. The Blue City is the largest development in Oman and is part of Oman's drive to attract foreign investment to develop its tourism potential and economic growth.

The Blue City takes it is inspiration from traditional Omani architecture, combining local styles with a look that will appeal to potential tourists. The city will be formed of clustered communities with schools, a university, stadia, golf facilities, a marina, hotels, a concert hall, shops and souks with the waterfront developed as a luxury resort. Forster + Partners strives to make sustainable projects and this one will have natural ventilation and careful orientation to minimize direct sunlight and maximize ventilation.

[via Building Design]

The latest large structure planned for the growing area of Abu Dhabi, the Seba tower, has a curvy appeal. This 50-story mixed-use tower will include retail space, offices and 316 apartment which will be available for rent by mid 2010. The curved bands around the tower are balconies offering views of the sea and the famous Abu Dhabi Corniche. The curves will be illuminated which will throw flashing "bands of light" against the sky. The tower will be topped with a rooftop terrace that includes a health club and an outdoor pool.

How's this for an ambitious project? A steel and glass pyramid is being constructed for the Klein Matterhorn in the Alps to bring it over the 4,000 meter mark. According to an article in The Guardian, 4,000 meters is the magic height for a mountain, representing a level that most people can never hope to attain. The Klein Matterhorn is already home to the world's highest cable car. In the article, Daniel Luggen or the tourist office in Zermatt is quoted as saying that their "aim is to make the mountain more attractive."

Architect Heinz Julen designed the 100 million Euro Matterhorn Glacier Paradise project that will include the pyramid sky platform and a restaurant and conference center that will be pressurized to avoid altitude sickness. Many are angry over the project, which they see as taking away from the natural beauty of the Alps. The project is just one of many in the area, including plans to turn the Schatzalp in Davos into a luxury high rise.

Besides accessories, I am addict for magazines. The hubby and I have magazines dating back to 2002. Some may say that we are a bit obsessive over magazines but I describe us as collectors of fine publications. Ok, well maybe that might be stretching it, but it's a love for writing and discovering new things that keeps us going. I was in the neighborhood bookstore and came across Robb Report's newest venture - Vertical Living. A magazine that will satisfy your taste and curiosity for high rise and high luxury living. Vertical Living will cover "amazing architecture to ultra-pampering concierge services to spectacular design, interiors, technology and real estate on the market." The photography is breathtaking and the articles are informative. A magazine worth checking out.

This just might be the wackiest design I have seen to hit Dubai yet (and we've seen more than a few over the years). This building will be a seven-star hotel is designed by Sybarite Architects and will feature a two-story jungle at the top. The 28-story building is a $350 million project off the coast of Dubai and could only be reached by boat or helicopter. The hotel will have 438 suites, a spa, art gallery and an underwater restaurant. The top two floors would be given over to a temperature controlled butterfly jungle.