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Posts Tagged ‘Hangs’

Cantilevered Cabin: Dizzying Alpine Shelter Hangs Off the Edge of a Cliff

28 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Boutique & Art Hotels & Travel. ]

cantilevered-cabin

Even someone brave enough to overcome fears of heights and climb a mountain may not have the stomach to spend the night in this suspended shelter on the edge of a vertigo-inducing abyss.

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Designed by OFIS Arhitekti (images by Janez Martincic), this precariously-perched space sits on Slovenian-Italian border and boasts 360-degree views over the landscapes of both countries. Inside, a series of resting platforms and a few pieces of minimalist rustic decor are the extent of the amenities provided.

cabin-at-night

Despite its fragile appearance, the cabin was (of course) constructed to deal with the extreme conditions of the location’s altitude and weather exposure on Mount Kanin. Indeed, it took multiple attempts for a helicoptered construction crew to get the prefab structure in place and tether it to the surrounding stone.

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The cozy refuge from wind, snug and landslides (overnight guests may not want to know) is intended in part as a test of the materials, to see how they will stand up over time.

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“The challenge is to install real objects remote sites … and study their response to extreme weather, radical temperature shifts, snow and rugged terrain” say the designers. “The harsh conditions of wind, snow, landslides, terrain, and weather require a response of specific architectural forms, structures and concept.” Despite those daunting challenges, the space is intended to “become a destination for hikers, climbers, cavers, mountaineers, nature lovers and romantics.”

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The Hand of Man: Bonsai Hangs Inside Abandoned Power Plant

20 Jun

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

bonsai power plant 1

Inside the cooling tower of an abandoned power plant, a tiny bonsai tree hangs from a geometric metal frame, its roots exposed. The only other sign of life inside the cavernous space is an occasional slick of moss. The project meets at the junction between urban exploration, installation art and photography, with no one but the artist witnessing it in person before it was quietly whisked away, the bonsai re-planted to continue its life.

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Located in the city of Charleroi, Belgium and originally built in 1921, the coal-burning power plant was decommissioned in 2007 after criticism of its inefficiency. While much of it was demolished, the tower – which once cooled 480,000 gallons of water per minute – still stands as a dystopian monument, drawing in determined explorers despite the security guards posted outside. Before protests shut it down, it was responsible for 10 percent of the total carbon dioxide emissions in the nation.

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Japanese botanical artist Azuma Makoto doesn’t typically provide any explanation for the meaning behind his installations, but it’s hard not to see some potent symbolism in this image. Bonsai plants are painstakingly constrained by human intervention, and here one floats without the soil it needs to thrive, within a cavernous representation of waste and short-sighted thinking.

bonsai space

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Makoto previously sent a bonsai into space for the Exobiotanica project, suspending a Japanese white pine and a bouquet of lilies and other flowers from carbon-fiber frames and launching them into the sky with a specially-equipped balloon. Six GoPro cameras captured their journey. Said the artist, “Roots, soil and gravity – by giving up the links to life, what kind of ‘beauty’ shall be born? Within the harsh ‘nature,’ at an altitude of 30,000 meters and minus 50 degrees celsius, the plants evolve into exbiota (extraterrestrial life.)”

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[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Beautiful Suspended Bridge Hangs from Helium Balloons

31 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Neither this installation artist nor his work are full of hot air – this is no optical illusion or structural trick, but an actual bring hanging in mid-air that can actually hold the weight of a human user.

Oliver Grossetête  (images by Thierry Bal and Toby Savagecrafted this lovely slatwork structure from rope, wood and synthetic fabric, installed over water at a Japanese garden for the Tatton Park Biennial.

To call Grossetête obsessed with everyday uses for balloons would be an understatement. His other projects include a floating bench (strung up to helium-filled orbs) and a conceptual transportation system that (you guessed it) soars through the sky on the back of giant balloons.

In this case, three large, evenly-spaced balloons create a series of rises in the path below, while the rope-and-wood slats allow some flexibility as the construct rises, falls and sways in the wind.

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