Going in, Ai Weiwei's "Five Houses" seemed like an important exhibition. It marks the U.S. premiere of the Chinese artist's project, which debuted at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Bregenz, Austria, this past summer. It's the latest in a lineage of fully designed environments by noted architects such as Josef Hoffmann, Frank Lloyd Wright and Gerrit Rietveld.

It's one of several events around the city connected with Weiwei, coinciding with the opening of the new Asia Society Texas Center and the installation of his "Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads" in Hermann Park. And it's the first new architectural project since Weiwei, an outspoken political figure, was arrested and detained in his native China last year for "alleged economic crimes."

But instead of leaving "Five Houses," up now at the Architecture Center Houston, with a sense of its importance as a piece of art, I was more frustrated than anything.

The exhibition is comprised of a series of five different types of residential houses, all built around the repetition of shapes and certain shifts in direction. While a pamphlet and text accompanying the show sort of explained these different types of houses and approaches -- in impenetrable architecture jargon -- none of the actual scale models were labeled. I didn't know what I was looking at. Further adding to my confusion, the models were accompanied by blown-up renderings and diagrams on the wall inexplicably labeled "House A," "House B" and "House C." I could presume these houses correlated to the models, but I just didn't know. The exhibition didn't explain it.

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Photo by Axiom

Tom Hair was driving down Washington Avenue in the Sixth Ward area in 2004 when he saw the dilapidated shell of former Houston Fire Station No. 6. He was looking for a new home for his branding and creative communications agency, Axiom, and saw potential in the 1903 brick building. "When I saw it, I developed an almost instant affinity for the building. I have since learned that that's true for lots of people," Hair tells Art Attack.

Photo by Pete Lacker Photography

That sighting set Hair on an eight-year course of negotiating, designing, restoring and building to create the refurbished and expanded building that now houses Axiom's offices.

Hair set about the restoration and rebuilding with a commitment to preserving as much of the original structure as possible. Cedar Bayou bricks, originally mixed and fired 100 years ago in Baytown, cover the outside of the fire station. Hair was able to find and reclaim bricks from another century-old building; those were used in the newly constructed expansion and matched the originals. Some 60 percent of the fire station's original pinewood flooring was saved, with the remaining flooring coming from reclaimed pine.

The resulting project not only meets but exceeds Hair's expectations. "I'm a native Houstonian and I own a building that's 109 years old. I wanted to create a building that in 100 years from now, the city of Houston and the Sixth Ward community could still be proud of it. When I look at what I created, I think I honored the original building."

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Brockman Hall for Physics, Rice University

This town is freaking beautiful, according to a couple of real-deal architects and the editor in chief of a hip magazine.

On March 22, architects Craig Scott and Jon Pickard as well as Susan Szenasy of Metropolis determined the best of Houston architecture. At the end of the day, the jury selected 21 winners in eight categories for the American Institute of Architects, Houston 2012 Architecture Design Awards.

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Alexa Crenshaw

Modern architecture enthusiast Jason Smith gave van tours this past weekend of some of Houston's best modern architecture as part of the Houston Modern Market, proving Houston to be a haven for many genuine mod architecture treasures. Here are some of the best finds from the tour.

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Photo by Travis Hensley

To get a better look at all the homes on the tour, go to our slideshow.

George Henry Burnett came to the Heights after losing his family in the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. This past Friday and Saturday, people attending Deck the Heights, the 2011 Houston Heights Association Holiday Home Tour, got a chance to see his house at 219 West 11th Street,

In all, six homes opened up for the tour. The Burnett House, now on the National Register of Historic Places, has been recently restored, but still maintains some of its original features including the shutters, heart-of-pine doors and leaded glass in the sitting room in the front. Burnett's grandson owns the home, which was decorated for the holiday season.

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From Great Houses of Havana by Hermes Mallea

Houston gets a visit from architect Hermes Mallea who is dropping by Brazos Bookstore on Friday to sign his book Great Houses of Havana: A Century of Cuban Style. The book features wonderful photographs of some of the most beautiful homes in Havana. One shows a courtyard, glowing in the evening light, two tiers of arches surrounding the formal garden at its center. Another shows an elegant pool house, a statue of Aphrodite stands in a lattice niche. Thick wooden beams span the ceiling while bronze lanterns hang over the pool. In another photo we see a front hall of a home designed by Carrère & Hastings. The classical Beaux-Arts design is done in a precious light pink, making the whole thing seem like an enormous cupcake.

Meet Hermes Mallea when he discusses and signs Great Houses of Havana: A Century of Cuban Style today at 5:30 p.m. at Brazos Bookstore, 2421 Bissonnet. For information, visit www.brazosbookstore.com or call 713-523-0701. Free.

Ruben Studdard

Also on Friday is the Mayor's 2011 Holiday Celebration and Tree Lighting. Two-time Grammy Award winner Diane Schuur and American Idol winner Ruben Studdard join the Mayor for the celebration.

The fun starts at 6 p.m. City Hall, 901 Bagby. For information, visit www.houstontx.gov/mayorsholiday/ or call 832-393-0868. Free.

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For even more exteriors and interiors at the Modern Outdoor Design Tour, check out our slide show.

Open houses are fun -- if you want to walk around your old/potentially new neighbors' homes -- mainly because this could be the only time that you're invited inside. The Modern Outdoor Design Tour was much like any other open house, except some houses weren't for sale and, instead of walking in pretending to be a potential buyer, you had to pay $30 and slip on blue shoe covers.

The tour itself took place for only one day and gave a look into some interesting modern designs around Houston, with no two homes taken from pages of the same playbook. The tour consisted of 13 houses, nine of which are currently on sale for prices that could move Occupy Houston away from downtown to their front doors.

To see all of the homes, you really had to be moving, even though only two of the homes were outside 610 Loop and the others were in close proximity to either Memorial or Hermann parks. The number 13 was still unlucky for many tour-goers and a bit ambitious for anything besides a paper route.

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Film lovers all over Houston will be gathering to take in a barrage of independent films and filmmakers at the city's Cinema Arts Festival this week and weekend. Art Attack viewed one of the festival's offerings, a profound and beautifully shot documentary entitled Unfinished Spaces.

The film, co-directed by first-time filmmakers and NYU pals Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, weaves together architecture, visual arts, personal profile and historical fact with a syncopated Cuban musical thread. The hour-and-20-minute foreign language documentary follows the trials and tribulations of architects Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi, who designed Cuba's National Art Schools during the time of the Cuban Revolution. The building of the schools, which lasted from 1961 to 1965, paralleled the Revolution, from its glorious beginning to its gradual demise.

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Photo by Travis Hensley

Ridge Street

To see more pictures, go to our AIA home tour slideshow. Drive long enough in Houston and eventually someone will go out of his way to try and kill you with his car. Yet, the American Institute of Architects' 25th Annual Home Tour carves a 23.5-mile jagged line across town. The route takes more than an hour without traffic. If you're listening to the radio, it is the perfect amount of time to get Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" forever stuck in your head.

There were nine houses in total on the tour, each one offering something radically different from the others for the tour-goers to see. Most interesting was how the architects were able to capture the light from their separate sections of the city. For instance, the Wiess College Masters' House in Rice Village is able to draw light from all sides of the house, but still offers a great amount of privacy to its residents.

Another highlight of the tour was getting to see the view of the Houston skyline from the house on Ridge Street, with each view getting better on the way to the top level. At the top there's a hot tub with one of the best views of the skyline in the Houston area.

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Photo by Meredith Deliso

Like looking at pictures of adorable puppies? Then check out our slideshow from Barkitecture. We want to feel as happy as this dog looks.

A cabana fit for two. A poolside respite. A cushioned swing. No, these aren't home improvements, but some of the best offerings from this year's Barkitecture.

The annual benefit for animal rescue group Pup Squad, held along the three-block stretch of the Houston Pavilions on Saturday, challenged architects, designers and artists to reinvent your typical Snoopy creation. And this year's event had some of the best competition yet, with more doghouses selling at face value (a sizable $500) than ever before during a preview on Friday before the main event.

"I don't know if the economy is getting better, or people like the idea of cool doghouses," said Pup Squad director of marketing Phil Hudson, who fell in love with Barkitecture while living in Austin and brought it to Houston three years ago.

Indeed, by midday Saturday, this year's fundraiser was set to raise $15,000 for the volunteer organization. Hudson pointed to the high-caliber designs for the success.

"Some years we have had some dogs," said Hudson (pun, obviously, intended). "This year, they were all really creative and amazing."

Judges gave out ribbons for first place ("best in show"), second place and third place, and "People's Choice," "Kid's Choice" and a silent auction during the main event helped determine some of the crowd favorites. But we also wanted to throw in our two cents and highlight some of the doghouses that blew us away at this year's Barkitecture -- and by doghouses, we mean those that looked the farthest thing from it.

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