It’s time for another installment of The Weekly LOdown - where every Friday we gather our favorite links from the architecture and building industry and share them with you.

This week we have a mix of news, new blogs, creative advertising and crazy architecture. Here’s what we’re clicking this week:

Allison

The writer in me really loves the Architectural Record blog, The First Word: A Dictionary of New Architecture, Updated Daily. The blog contributors “take an early look at new projects and—in a single word—explain what about each design caught (their) eye.” The posts are formatted like definitions in a dictionary, and this week’s entry for loopy particularly caught my attention. It’s a creative and engaging way to introduce new forms of architecture.

Jack

While the construction industry struggles to get to its feet, two giants who sell marketing intelligence to manufacturers, contractors, architectural firms, engineers and others are locked in a pitched battle.

Lauren

A French hotel is offering guests the chance to live like hamsters for the day. No, it’s not a joke. The new hotel in the French city of Nantes – designed by owners Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, both architects – allows guests to “feast on hamster grain, get a workout by running in a giant wheel and sleep in hay stacks in the suite called the ‘Hamster Villa.’” Apparently it’s all part of the architects’ niche, which involves renting out unusual venues to adventure-seekers. I don’t know what kind of “adventure-seeker” wants to live like a hamster, but hey, why not?

Nick

I love advertising - at its most subtle and at its most sensational.  These creative building advertisements are sensational.  Some of them are just downright cool to look at, some are quite clever.  Any lover of architecture and advertising needs to check out the impressive use of exterior building space that these ads employ. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but conceptually I like the Axe ad and visually I like the Lego ad.

Any thoughts or opinions? Any links that you found particularly interesting this week? Post them below in the comments section.

Thanks for reading!