Art, Italians do it better

Luigi Prina’s Flying Ships

View all 21 Photos

Blinking City is a love letter to creative people, places, and process, and they’d like everyone to meet architect Luigi Prina. As one can see from the mobile ships that dangle from his ceiling as if floating in the air, Prina makes flying boats. He started making things as a young man, winning an aircraft modelling competition and moving into his career as an architect. Then, fifty years after that first championship, he crossed paths with boat builder Eugenio Tomiolo and began to create flying boats. Prina crafts his boats from paper, balsa wood, nylon, and elastic bands. Light enough to fly and too beautiful to crash, they whirl and hang about his home, offering everyone who sees them a lift of spirits.

(via NOTCOT.org, photographs by Gianluca Giannnone)

More for you

Lyse Lotte


Architecture

A cooperative housing project designed with brutalist-style, flexible living spaces a…

Frame House


Architecture

A contemporary house in the Hamptons, designed with a steel frame, generous glazing a…

Catskills Residence


Architecture

A wood-clad cabin purposefully designed to look at home in the breathtaking landscape…

Dar El Farina House


Architecture

A desert house designed with rammed earth walls and a linear sequence of living space…

Casa Coo


Architecture

A 1923 villa in Rome, reimagined as a contemporary living space with refined details …

The Hat House


Architecture

A wood cabin built in a birch forest clearing with views of mountains and a lake.
Na…

Around the world

Treehouse Villas, A Nature-Cen...


Around the World

Seven tree house villas in Bali nestled among lush vegetation on a sloping site that …

Ftelia Beach Club


Around the World

Italian design meets modernist vibes in a tranquil retreat by the sea in Greece.
Nes…

Pa.te.os, A stunning coastal r...


Around the World

Four concrete houses that invite guests to lose themselves in a spectacular coastal l…

Staff Picks

The Humble Collection of Portable, Waterproof Lamps

Introducing Zilio A&C

The Sabi Cabin

A Lakeside House at the Edge of a Forest

Stay Updated

FacebookPinterestRedditLinkedInEmailWhatsAppX