Looping « 360Photography

RSS

Posts Tagged ‘Looping’

Hidden Stories: 3D-Printed, Architect-Designed Rings Tell Looping Tales

26 May

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

Most jewelry tells some kind of a story (about its origin if nothing else) but these pieces are a bit more explicit, featuring tales of structures, characters and actions in miniature built environments.

Architectural designer Artur Dabrowsk produces rings, cuffs, necklaces and bracelets that revolve “around the concept of ‘depth’ in terms of formal language (shadow lines, composition, depth of field) as well as in meaning (details, storytelling).”

Whether he is crafting mysterious staircases to nowhere or endlessly looped brick arches, each piece involves careful attention architectural detail (including theoretical structural load calculations) and is available in brass, bronze or silver.

The brick ring specifically goes back to his days in architecture school — “there is something very tactile and nostalgic that give [bricks] both timeless function and meaning,” says the designer.

“I was raised in a brick clad apartment building in Brooklyn,” he explains, “so I associated the brick wall as a shelter for my introverted childhood. The arch became a metaphoric portal through which I could turn the corner, open up, and express myself while still proud of my introverted self.”

Dabrowsk also has a thing for rabbits, which are something he has sketched idly for a long time and has since started to include as characters in his tiny built environments. “I started drawing them in the margins of my notebooks during grade school and personify them to express thoughts, situations or feelings I was having.”

“I think the imagery of it being personified is playful — the rabbit is cute, hops around, eats, multiplies… and lives naively in this world.” Even here, though, he is conscious of real-life conditions – the suspended rabbit above hands from what would, in reality, be the bare minimum load-support beam across an abyss.

Fans of architectural jewelry should also take a peak at this series of wearable skylines, featuring famous scenes and settings (though in a more two-dimensional format) from around the world.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

Comments Off

Posted in Creativity

Looping Bicycle Bridge Lets Cyclists Ride Right Over a School Roof

06 Apr

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

bike bridge 1

Many a cyclist has fantasized about being able to bike right over the chaos of a city, avoiding traffic, intersections and trouble areas so they can just enjoy the ride. A Dutch architecture firm has made this fantasy into a reality with a continuous bike bridge that crosses the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal in Utrecht and then loops right over an adjacent university building’s roof. Officially open this week, ‘Dafne Schippers Bicycle Bridge’ by NEXT Architecture reclaims urban space for people who aren’t driving vehicles.

bike bridge 2

It’s unusual to see a bridge so seamlessly integrated into adjacent infrastructure on land in a way that’s interactive with the public, while also performing an important service. Measuring 360 feet long, the bicycle bridge connects the old Oog in Al section of Utrecht with new district Leidsche Rijn.

bike bridge 3

Open to both cyclists and pedestrians, it lifts up off the ground in Victor Hugo Park, reaches a pinnacle of nearly 115 feet above the surface of the water, and continues onto the roof of a local Montessori school.The bridge then loops around a public garden before once again reaching ground level.

bike bridge 4

bike bridge 5

Commissioned by the city of Utrecht, the structure will save more than 7,000 cyclists time on their route each day. The architects wanted the bridge to connect the bicycle route, park and school in a single fluid movement, creating a cohesive landscape. With the bicycle bridge on the south side, space for a recreational area is created on the north side, oriented toward a park.

bike bridge 6

It would be cool to see architects take inspiration from NEXT’s creation to the next level, building something even more complex that’s lifted above the busy streets of an urban center.

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

Comments Off

Posted in Creativity

Looping Roller-Coaster Stairway You Can Actually Walk On

23 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

From afar, it looks like a forgotten relic of a theme park that has since picked up and moved on – but it’s actually a walkable sculpture. ‘Tiger & Turtle – Magic Mountain‘, as it’s named, rises on a dirt hill above the city of Duisburg, Germany, promising a strange adventure to those who approach.

As you come closer, you’ll see that there’s a portion of this looping, curving stairway that seems to go upside-down, just as a real roller coaster would. Unfortunately, that’s part of the ‘magic’.

Architects Heike Mutter and Ulrich Genth explain, “Having a closer look, the public is disappointed in a disarming way. The visitor climbs on foot via differently steep steps the roller-coaster-sculpture. So the sculpture subtly and ironically plays with the dialectic of promise and disappointment, mobility and standstill.”

LED lights were integrated into the handrails so that the sculpture is not only accessible at night, but acts as a landmark, visible for miles. It was built on the site of a toxic zinc-slag pit left over from a local zinc operation that was cleaned up and made fit for public use.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Inception Park: Impossible Roller Coaster in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires becomes a fantasy urban playground in this fun video by Black Sheep Films, featuring roller coasters with no tracks that zoom through the city.
Click Here to Read More »»

Playfully Serious: Interactive Sculpture With Killer Curves

If this winding, looping roller coaster looks out of place in the picturesque German countryside, it may be because not everything is as it seems.
2 Comments – Click Here to Read More »»