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Posts Tagged ‘Station’

Out of Gas: Abandoned Station Will Live its Golden Years as a Venue

06 Jun

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

A formerly abandoned gas station in London’s White City district may have outlived its usefulness in its original purpose, but it’s got a new, more relaxing job to do in the ‘hereafter.’ If all those pastel colors didn’t tip you off, the station is in retirement, and it will live out its golden years acting as a colorful venue for pop-up events in the midst of a decade-long urban regeneration effort aiming to create a “thriving, creative neighborhood.”

The station, located on Wood Lane, sits between the BBC’s former headquarters at the Television Centre and White City Place, the former BBC Media Village, both of which will reopen this year after redevelopment. Designer duo Craig & Karl, aka Craig Redman and Karl Maier, took inspiraiton from the bright colors of a television test card for the station’s cheerful new palette and decorated it in their signature graphic style.

“We view this project as the petrol station’s second life, or ‘wonder years,’ which led us to use the words ‘here after’ as a reference to heaven or utopia,” say the designers. “Now that the petrol station has fulfilled its duty, so to speak, it’s free to enjoy itself.”

In a jam-packed, space-challenged city where so few people even own vehicles, this is an especially fitting and fun revitalization of a disused urban space. Doesn’t it make you wish all gas stations were treated as art objects?

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[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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Amsterdam Airbnb in a Metro Station Mocks Misleading & Harmful Hotels

25 May

[ By SA Rogers in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

Anyplace can be an Airbnb – including vans, sheds, housing that should rightfully be for rent to the city’s residents, and cozy rooms ‘by the metro’ that turn out to actually be in the metro station. In fact, the latter example is on display in the metro station Wibautstraat in Amsterdam’s city center right now, walled off with glass to put guests on full display of commuters in a commentary on how misleading and harmful listings on the travel accommodations website can be.

Created by Dutch artist Boudewijn Rückert, the installation could be read in a variety of ways without context. If you didn’t know the artist’s intentions, you might think this was an advertisement, or an unconventional room made available by Airbnb as a promotional stunt. But lean in and take a close look at the placard accompanying the exhibition.

The text reads, “This unique location is an ideal base for your Amsterdam exploring. Spacious room with artificial lighting. It is really cosy and comfortable. Very close to the city center, ideal for conference goers. Very safe environment. Open and big windows. Public transport is very nearby.”

As Rücker notes on his website, roughly 15,000 homes are currently offered “as a permanent holiday” in the city, excluding them from housing and contributing to gentrification. Plus, the way these accommodations are typically styled makes them exceedingly generic in the sterile Silicon Valley aesthetic increasingly referred to as ‘Airspace.’

The artist outfitted the room in furniture and decor you could find in any city around the world thanks to Ikea, along with “a butt-ugly vase with plastic flowers,” with nothing but a photo of an Amsterdam ferry on the wall to hint at the room’s geographic location.

While he’s aware that the installation is bound to press the buttons of Airbnb fans and perhaps the company itself, he hopes it will stimulate conversation around how renting out all these rooms is affecting the lives of people who live in the host cities – a controversy that’s definitely not limited to the city of Amsterdam.

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[ By SA Rogers in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

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Samyang Lens Station USB dock spotted in the wild

22 Apr

Samyang recently showed off a new Lens Station device at the 2017 Seoul International Photo & Imaging Show, according to Photo Rumors.

The Lens Station is described as a USB docking station for lens customization and firmware upgrades, one said to be similar to Sigma’s own USB dock. Unfortunately, no details about availability or pricing have been released at this time.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Charge your devices with a USB station shaped like a Sony mirrorless camera

18 Jan

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If you’ve searched high and low for the perfect USB charging station but come up empty handed, Fotodiox might have your number. It’s offering the Mirage Trio USB Charging Station, which is fashioned to look like a Sony a7-series mirrorless camera for no discernible reason. It offers charging for an Apple or Android phone, a USB port for another device and a compartment for an Apple Watch magnetic charging cable. 

Here’s the kicker – the replica lens sold with the station can be removed and swapped out for any E-mount lens of your choice. And as Fotodiox points out, you can simply add an adapter (see what they did there?) to attach a beloved vintage lens so you can gaze upon it as you wait for your GoPro to charge. 

Head to Fotodiox’s site to pick one up for $ 75.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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This 4K video tour of the International Space Station is probably as close as you’ll get to being an astronaut

02 Nov

Halloween’s not over yet – NASA has released a 4K treat. The 18 minute UHD video features a fly-through of the International Space Station. Get out your headphones, flip into full-screen mode and pretend your dreams of becoming an astronaut have finally come true.

Related: NASA astronaut Jeff Williams showcases ISS photography equipment

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Last Stop: Japan Keeps Old Train Station Open for Lone Passenger

27 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & History & Travel. ]

japan railways deserted abandoned

In a remote area of Hokkaido, the northernmost island of Japan, a train stops just twice a day, as it has for years: once to pick up a girl on her way to school, and once to drop her back off afterward.

rural station interior

The otherwise-abandoned Kyu-Shirataki station remains open, thanks to Japan Railways, which honored the request of two parents to continue transporting their daughter back and forth until she graduates.

rural station last stop

The physical space is remarkably well-kept despite its relative disuse, still containing route maps and schedules as any other station would, despite serving as essentially a single-person shelter for the place’s only daily passenger.

rural station in japan

As the country’s population continues to shrink as well as urbanize, rural routes like this one have been forced to close – only high-speed railway lines remain on the rise. Fans of Japan Railways’ actions in this case see it as a victory for common courtesy as well as education. The line will ultimately close completely after the girl graduates and moves on (via CityLab).

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[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Canon’s new Connect Station will feature wireless charging, support 4k video

16 Sep

Canon unveiled its next generation Connection Station this week at Canon Expo 2015 in New York. The new model is similar to the original CS100, first introduced at CES earlier this year, but with the addition of two new big features: wireless charging and support for 4K playback. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Canon wants to make Connect Station your photo and video hub

05 Jan

While it’s been quietly shown behind glass on several occasions, Canon has made its Connect Station CS100 official. This compact box houses a 1TB hard drive which can store thousands of photos and videos. Photos can be transferred by tapping an NFC-equipped 2015 Canon camera to its top plate, or via USB or memory card. Users can then view their media on their HDTV using an included remote control. The CS100 can also share photos to social networking services via Canon’s Image Gateway service. If you still have a spare HDMI port on your TV, you can pick up the CS100 in April for $ 299.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Retro-Modern Radio Ball Rolls its Way to the Next Station

17 Jul

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Radioball 1

Remember when searching for a good radio station was a process of discovery, slowly turning a knob to hear snippets of music or talk making its way through the static? The anticipation was part of the experience, not knowing just what you might hear as you made your way around the dial. A fun concept called the Radioball brings back that feeling with an interactive three-dimensional design marrying retro and modern technologies. You simply roll the ball to change the station.

Radioball 2

“Thinking back to the days of old analog radios, the magic of finding unexpected stations in the midst of fuzz was both enchanting and evocative,” says designer Ben Collette. “Compare that with today’s digital-based interactions of screens and tact switches; they give us exactly what we want when we want it, but leave no room to stumble onto alternative choices. The radioball prototype was built as a starting point for conversation about the need for richer, more spatial interactions.”

Radioball 3

A lightweight, 3D-printed urethane mesh forms a honeycombed ball shape, which is then fitted with electronic components like speakers. The sections of the ball and the components are held together using magnets, and the design team is playing with various colors and levels of transparency for the outer mesh.

Radioball 4

For version 2.0, Collette added a digital gyroscope to the control board so that a slow twist on any facet turns the volume up or down. It’s also got a larger battery and an easily accessible mini-USB slot for recharging the device.

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[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Secret Operation: Flightless Aircraft is a Research Station

27 Sep

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

Secret Operation Aircraft Research Base 1

Anyone peering into a disused F15 hangar at the Cold War-era Soesterberg airbase in The Netherlands might have spotted this bizarre black structure and imagined that it was some kind of secret, high-tech aircraft project. They would have been half correct. The angular behemoth, with its wing-like appendages, is an imposing sight upon the airstrip as it rolls slowly out of Shelter 610.

Secret Operation Aircraft Research Base 2

Secret Operation Aircraft Research Base 5

But look a little closer. It’s crawling so excruciatingly slowly for a reason. It’s not an aircraft at all – it’s moving on military treads. Secret Operation 610 is both a sculpture and a functional research station for aerospace engineering students at Technical University Delft who are developing ‘no noise, no carbon, just fly’ technologies .

Secret Operation Aircraft Research Base 3

Secret Operation Aircraft Research Base 4

Created by Rietveld Landscape, Secret Operation 610 deliberately mimics the look of science fiction aircraft. The point, essentially, is for it to look a bit scary. “The object revives the mysterious atmosphere of the Cold War and its accompanying terrifying weaponry,” say the designers.

Secret Operation Aircraft Research Base 6

The old runway serves as an ideal test site for state of the art aviation experiments, so this mobile research shelter enables students to become immersed in the atmosphere of the airbase as it rolls around. “The unconventional combination of nature and Cold War history offers an exciting environment for the development of knowledge about nature, technology and aviation.”

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[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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