When we think about architectural drawings, fanciful illustration is not the first thing that comes to mind. However, illustrator and architecture-fan Federico Babina continues to surprise us with his wildly creative and intelligent drawing series that playfully explores the crossover of architecture and illustration. His newest set, ARCHIPLAY, depicts 27 of history’s greatest architects as if they were theatrical set-designs characterizing each one with signature elements from the designers’ most notable works. ARCHIPLAY includes favorites like Zaha Hadid, Walter Gropius, Frank Gehry and many more.
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Federico Babina is an Italian illustrator who’s previously brought us clever illustrative works like Archisutra and Archidirector. In both series, Babina replaces images of people with personified buildings, and with his new series, Archicards, he adopts this same approach but with a twist. Instead of replacing people with buildings, Archicards replaces the standard images found on playing cards with famous architects throughout history. So, the king of hearts is now Corbu, while the king of diamonds is played by Frank Lloyd wright—just to name a few.

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Most of us have heard of the Kama Sutra, and as interesting as it is, it might not be our first choice for our home’s wall decor. But this non-traditional version, entitled Archisutra, from architectural illustrator Federico Babina, may be clever enough to change your mind. Traditionally pictorial interpretations of the Kama Sutra include human bodies demonstrating sexual positions from the ancient sanskrit text; however, in Babina’s version, the bodies are replaced with buildings while the positions remain the same.

See the illustrations

• Hipsterless Brooklyn: If the title wasn’t great enough, the vintage, post-WWII photos in Time’s online collection are pretty amazing.
• The Park Slope home of Dwell Magazine’s Editor in Chief Amanda Dameron is everything we’d expect, from hand-blown glass wind chimes to children’s book displays. Take the virtual tour on the New York Times.
• Archiwindows illustrations by Federico Babina depict prolific architects like Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Zaha Hadid as silhouettes inside windows of their most famous buildings. Check it out on Dezeen.
• Kate Spade New York debuts “shoppable construction barriers” that will make those unsightly pedestrian walkway walls a bit more attractive and let you engage in a little retail therapy on the go. More on the New York Observer.

Images: City veterans housing project, Canarsie, Brooklyn, 1946, Ed Clark—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images (L); Kate Spade construction barrier, via Kate Spade New York (R)