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Posts Tagged ‘Hides’

Mobile Micro-Lending: 17th-Century Book-Shaped Library Hides 50 Tiny Books

10 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vintage & Retro. ]

Back in the 1600s, long before science fiction authors dreamed up digital e-readers, this Jacobean traveling library was making the rounds, housing dozens of small books in a larger book-shaped case. Bound in leather like a large folio volume, it is thought to be one of the first of its kind.

The handcrafted wooden shell was purpose-built to house a collection of littler volumes that could in theory be swapped out for different journeys, much like loading up a modern device with novels (or torrents).

Located at the University of Leeds Library, this case is presumed to have been commissioned by a lawyer and politician named William Hakewell in 1617 as a holiday gift (as the recipient’s and giver’s coats of arms are both found on the case). The case is quite compelling — it looks a lot like a book upon casual inspection — while the contents are neatly arranged in similar-looking bindings.

The gift included classics by Ovid, Virgil and Cicero among others, spanning a range of philosophical and theological subjects. Hakewell commissioned several similar cases over the years, which would also have facilitated trades across collections of friends if they were so inclined. Each case also contained a list of original books that came with the commission, which in turn have numbers corresponding to the list

Downloadable Deco: Art Archive Puts 200 Graphic Design Classics Online

Some great institutions are becoming even greater in the digital age — places like museums continue to scan high-quality paintings and photographs for distribution and agencies like NASA put …

Radical Retrofuture Rides: 12 Never-Produced Vehicles

Concept cars, dream machines and technology-packed prototypes give us hints of what the future holds for bikers, drivers, sailors and flyers – many have even gone into production little changed …

Retro Hover Cars: Editing Photos to Float Vintage Rides

One of the most common concepts for the future has long been the wheel-free automobile, even before it was popularized in Back to the Future – but always, these looked almost shockingly familiar …

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Secret Studio: Suspended Mobile Room Slides & Hides Under Busy Overpass

25 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

Designer Fernando Abellanas has built a remarkable micro-dwelling in Valencia, Spain, that slides into position under a bridge, suspended safely out of sight from the traffic passing by above.

The clever construction of the room’s frame allows it to roll over tilted sections of beam, making its way between a lofted and secluded position and the top of a slope on the other side for entry and egress.

A hand-crank lets the dweller move the enclosure back and forth without any need for an external power source. Furniture and fixtures, meanwhile, stay put, attached to the vertical span of bridge supports where the room docks.

Embracing a minimalist approach and industrial palette, this urban refuge has flexible walls that can form an enclosure and act as privacy screens, allowing the occupant to hiding completely behind raised plywood surfaces.

A light-touch approach means the structure leaves essentially no footprint – it glides lightly around existing infrastructure. And its built-in mobility mechanism assures castle-like protection, vertical space acting as a natural moat.

Indeed, the designs were based on childhood fantasies and real-worldassociations with hard-to-access spaces like tree houses and table forts easy for children to access but hard for adults.

The dull hum of the road is a bit like the buzz of a family going about its business — the buffer of concrete also dampens some of the noise, making the space less loud than it would be to occupy a space alongside the highway.

Abellanas has long been fascinated with furniture as well as forts, and his work with other artists and architects reflects an ongoing interest in paradigm-challenging designs do-it-yourself guerrilla interventions.

Slide & Hide: Stealth Staircases Save Space in Micro-Suites

Maximizing usable space in a series of compact short-term apartments, these retractable steps slip back into a wall, all but disappearing beneath lofted bedroom areas when not needed. Drawers …

Hide-a-Room: Flip-Out Wall Furniture Puts 3 Rooms in 1 Space

Wooden slats and white surfaces shape both the aesthetic and function of this all-in-one interior design, becoming part of the visual language of the walls while also revealing which pieces and …

Borrowed from Libraries: Mobile Shelving for Modular Rooms

When libraries want to save space, they employ a rolling stack system that allows access to only one or a few aisles at one time. When not in use, the walkways between disappear as the bookcases …

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Rustic Swiss Structure Hides Modern Underground Home

05 Feb

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

hidden modern home 1

Set into a landscape of grassy hills and deteriorating stone walls, a rustic 200-year-old wood and stone structure hides a wholly unexpected modern residence. The renovation in Linescio, Switzerland by Buchner Bründler Architekten adapts an existing country home that had fallen into ruin, setting the new concrete shell into a hillside so that it’s partially subterranean. From the outside, a few streamlined concrete elements are the only signs hinting at a modernized interior.

hidden modern home 6

hidden modern home 4

All new elements are made of concrete, including the recessed bathtub, open fireplace, basins and the kitchen counter. The architects wanted to leave as much of the existing fabric of the historical structures as possible, adding minimalist complementary elements that don’t fight the aging textures for attention.

hidden modern home 5

High, folding wood shutters cover the original front windows, which have partially lost their glass, while a new glass door leads out to the garden. The concrete was brought in layer by layer and still bears the marks of the formwork. The existing walls act as an extra layer of insulation, though the home is only meant for use in the summer.

hidden modern home 3

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“The plastic, evocative qualities of the exposed concrete intensify the archaic character and the calm atmosphere of this stone house,” say the architects.

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Fossilized Retreat: Log Cabin Remnants Recast in Concrete

Using the existing logs from a previous cabin structure as formwork, this retreat manages to retain the scale and textures of its predecessor in a …
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Deserted Elevator Shaft Hides Single-Room Street Museum

15 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

pop up micro museum

Like so many secret spaces of New York City, this one-room exhibit space (hidden inside an abandoned elevator) is not exactly on the beaten path.

nyc museum peep holes

This pop-up project is naturally camouflaged, set behind a pair of rusted metal doors along an inconspicuous alley between a pair of dull gray block walls. Only a few small rectangular punched openings suggest that something might lurk beyond the black steel.

nyc one room exhibit

Behind its unmarked entry lies a surprisingly pristine white room lined with red-padded shelves. These in turn support an array of contents, many of which city dwellers may find strangely familiar.

nyc everyday object museum

The Elevator Museum‘s collection sports a sampling of everyday urban objects, from discarded coffee cups and potato chip bags to tip jars, found dollar bills and losing lottery tickets.

nyc worlds smallest museum

The exhibits rotate, however, between temporary pieces and a permanent collection featuring some seriously unique and one-off objects. The latter includes the shoe infamously thrown at President George W. Bush during a televised 2008 press conference.

nyc elevator shaft museum

The museum founders Alex Kalman, and brothers Benny and Josh Safdie “want [the] museum to relay the intimate stories behind strange, colloquial items, finding beauty in absurdity.” To construct their secret museum, ”the team gutted the shaftway [at the ground floor] and renovated it to include lighting and shelving.”

nyc elevator museum gift shop

It has operating hours, but like most things in NYC, it is worth dropping by any time of the day or night: “Glass peepholes at the door allow passersby to marvel at the collectibles 24/7, and for those visitors who miss the museum’s opening hours, a toll free hotline has been developed that relays information about each exhibited artifact via phone. The 60 square-foot, free museum also accommodates a cafe and shop. It is a fitting microcosm of the essence of New York City, an unusual myriad of characters, quirks, and curiosities congregating in extremely small spaces.”

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Weightless Space: Ghostly Floating Room Hovers in Midair

A fantastic feat of architectural trickery, this anti-gravity ante-room installation appears to hover in thin air and open up into nothingness. It sports a …
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Transformer Theater: Deserted House, Upcycled in Disguise

This incredible transforming theater, built from salvaged pieces of a deserted home, is more than meets the eye. A community theater in disguise, its contents …
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