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Posts Tagged ‘Window’

Art of Camouflage: Flying Bird Silhouettes Blend into Broken Window Voids

09 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

cracked-glass-frame-art

A boy aiming his slingshot into the sky seems to aim both at the broken windows of an abandoned building but also a series of birds that seem to appear in the gaps of cracked glass, transfixed in various stages of flight.

broken-glass-bird-art

Artist Pejac is well known for his negative-space interventions, from pealing back paint chips to carefully reveal brick beneath to other contextual installations. Much of the art is in the craft: a meticulous removal (or breaking) of materials to slowly reveal some new whole, much like a sculptor chips away at a marble edifice.

bird-window-boy-shooting

This latest piece was produced during his residency with the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka, Croatia, where he spent multiple weeks crafting site-specific works.

bird-windows-power-plant

Camouflage (Tribute to René Magritte) is set in the huge windows of an old paper factory power plant, depicting a flock of birds that might be hard to spot were it not for the outline of a boy taking aim below them. His figure calls attention to the larger work, signalling a passer by the existence of something both large and subtle going on in the frame.

boy-taking-aim

painted-boy

The implied story is one about hunting and survival, the birds disguising themselves against a backdrop of broken window panes, making them harder for the child to spot. The boy, too complex a figure to render through even the most craftily broken glass, is painted over a series of panes (images by Sasha Bogojev).

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Bloomframe: Window Morphs Into a Balcony in Seconds

30 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

bloomframe

Transforming from a flat window into a balcony at the push of a button, the Bloomframe design is not only available for purchase after years of design refinements, it’s also set to be the defining feature of an entire apartment building. Amsterdam-based architecture firm Hofman Dujardin won the Red Dot Design Award back in 2008 for the concept, which manages to be both innovative and attractive, eliminating some of the bulk seen in similar designs.

bloomframe-gif

bloomframe 2

Think of it as the balcony version of a Murphy bed: you press a button and something useful pops out of the wall to offer you more space and functionality. Operated by remote control, the balcony looks like an ordinary window, except with an opaque metal panel where the lower pane of glass would normally be. Activate it, and an electric motor drive will extend out the top frame, pushing the lower one down into the balcony’s floor.

bloomframe 3

bloomframe 4

bloomframe 6

The whole process takes about fifteen seconds to complete, and the result is a real balcony with enough space for two people to sit down at a table and enjoy a meal. It was conceived specifically for spaces where traditional balconies aren’t logistically possible, like apartment renovations or warehouse conversions.

bloomframe 8

bloomframe

When a dozens of them are installed in a single apartment building, like Hofman Dujardin’s proposed housing block, the result is a dynamic, constantly changing facade pattern. “In the winter the facade is closed, during spring the facades open like a flourishing flower,” say the designers.

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Future of Fenestration: Every Window Will Generate Solar Power

28 Aug

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

solar power windows

Better, cheaper and easier than solar windows, this newly-patented flexible coating can be applied to existing glass and plastic surfaces, turning any aperture into a source of electricity. With this technology on all of its surfaces, buildings can generate up to 50 times more solar energy per structure.

solar energy polymer

Developed by SolarWindow Technologies, this inexpensive approach has a payback time of as little as one year (far less than the 5 to 10 years of traditional solar approaches. As the technology evolves and expands, it is only a matter of time until every window draws energy from light.

solar generation panel transparent

By adding it to the inside surface of a window, the process protects the tech from exterior sources of damage and simplifies application. The solution is also lightweight and adaptable, making it easier to retrofit existing architecture without cost-intensive shipping or labor-intensive installation processes.

solar sheet making process

These sensitive photovoltaics can draw power from lunar energy and artificial lights in addition to the sun’s rays. Their relatively low price per unit reinforces the sensibility of simply putting them on all sides of a structure, including those with less natural light.

solar window tech

Effectively invisible wires draw electricity from the exposed surfaces while a uniform and architecturally-neutral color tinting process allows for a variety of of looks and degrees of transparency.

solar light neutral color

This new substance can be deployed as a sticky film on a surface or potentially even painted on as a liquid. The organic (but secretive) constituent source materials of the core polymer include common elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Table for Two: Window as Bridge & Barrier Between Shared Seat

22 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

table public art piece

Putting you in the spotlight with a stranger, this installation in New York City is a perhaps-paradoxical commentary on both connection and isolation in urban environments.

table for two project

Located at 7th Avenue and Carmine Street in Manhattan, Table for Two by Parisian native Shani Ha was designed to separate the participants with a window, yet by its placement and proximity makes simultaneously for intimately-shared moments.

table glass nyc art

Vicky Gan describes it as “part sculpture, part performance art, it challenges those who sit down to look up from their smartphones and into the eyes of a friend, a stranger, or their own reflections in the glass. A self-conscious homage to Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, the work realizes the age-old concept of the big, crowded city as a lonely, isolating place.”

table for two corner art

Like any good piece of interactive art, the stories about its usage are what show it works – deaf people communicating in sign language across the glass in one case or a couple talking to each other (like in prison) on phones in another.

table for two new york

Technology, claims the artist, is responsible “making us more self-centered because [it gives] us the power to access only the people we decide to access,” whereas the intention in this piece is “to break the bridge between the outside and the inside, and allow a new form of interaction between people.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Unbelievable Advert: Augmented Reality Bus Shelter Window

16 Apr

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Guerilla Ads & Marketing. ]

Taking over a single bus shelter on New Oxford Street, guerrilla advertisers threw everything they could think of at commuters, including (but not limited to) flying space aliens, underground squid monsters and giant city-crushing robots.

The campaign, created for Pepsi Max, takes a real-time projected display and adds (almost) impossible scenarios seamlessly to convince viewers of their authenticity.

From its creators: “Watch their reactions as unbelievable scenarios unfold before their very eyes; from a giant robot crashing through the street to a passer by being abducted by flying saucers.” With over 5,000,000 views and counting, it is safe to say that Pepsi can clearly count this one as a success.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Guerilla Ads & Marketing. ]

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Kinetic Facade: Awesome Adaptive Window Shading System

17 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

animated-window-system

Buildings are forever in tension, being static objects in a dynamic world – light conditions in particular shift predictably yet variably throughout the day, week, season and year, in turn demanding an adaptive response.

dynamic facade shading

Thus the Penumbra system by Tyler Short, “designed to offer a kinetic and mechanical solution to a problem that would otherwise be nearly impossible to solve with static architectural components: providing shading across a building facade for both low evening sun and high afternoon sun conditions.”

adaptive facade interior gears

The constituent parts can shift side to side while in their vertical orientation, then turn on a proverbial dime to form a horizontal shading solution, all creating a way to deflect (and let in) light while maintaining control over views.

kinetic shade facade system

More from the designer: “Our solution was a series of vertical shading louvers, that can independently pivot to maximize solar protection, and when the sun reaches an altitude in which vertical louvers would be ineffective, completely rotate upwards to act as a horizontal shading element and light shelf. All of the mechanical components and gear ratios were fully resolved, and the result is a hand or computer-operated system that creates a beautiful undulating form across the facade.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Window Sketches: Minimalist Landscapes of Steam & Glass

16 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

steam glass sketch photos

No smoke-and-mirrors or post-production here, just fleeting vignettes swiftly staged on steamed windows and set against natural outdoor backgrounds.

steam water walking alone

Jim Osborne is a self-taught landscape artist who typically works in watercolor, acrylic and oils. He describes himself as being inspired by his surroundings, light and the weather. Recently, however, he has begun working in a new direction with water condensation on glass window surfaces.

band of brothers art

His Steamy Windows Collection represents a bit of a departure for him in terms of tools and approach – the work is necessarily fast, drawing on organic backdrops, lighting conditions and perceptual cues. Each piece is shot quickly as well, and prints can be found for sale on his website.

steam water window drawing

With the need for speed, every little gesture counts – the results are simultaneously planned but ultimately uncontrolled, a mixture of simple figures and hasty grounds that somehow manages to look like more than the sum of its parts. The approach seems like a a great way to train oneself to think in an agile fashion and be nimble in execution.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Room with a View: How to Create this Window with Blinds Portrait Anywhere

13 Feb

In this post Gina Milicia – author of our brand new Posing eBook – walks us through the taking of one of her portraits of Christy Vandenberg.

Final

I’m constantly on the look out for new and interesting ways to pose my models. This shoot only took me 20 minutes from start to finish and is really basic to set up and photograph.

The following tutorial is a step by step of how I pose and light my window portrait.

This set up is great way to add mood to a portrait. The reflections caused by the glass that partly obscure my model add a sense of mystery and romance to the shot.

This image was taken in my studio using daylight and can be recreated almost anywhere.

The example I’ve given is of a full-face shot but this also works with ¾ shots and profile shots and with or without venetian blinds.

Gear Checklist

Canon 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS lens*

I’ve used a focal length of 200mm but a focal length of anywhere between 70-200mm will work. If you have a cropped frame sensor a 50mm will also give a similar result.

Manfrotto 475B Pro

I shoot most of my headshots using a tripod because having my camera fixed gives me the freedom to focus on expression and pose rather than having to worry about whether my vertical and horizontal angles are straight.

The other reason I love shooting on tripod is it allows me to shoot portraits at very slow shutter speeds of 1/15th or 1/8th of a second, which I could never get using hand held.

1 x cheap Venetian blind + boom c stand or clothes rack to hold up venetians
1 x sheet of clear Perspex* approx. 3ft x 3ft ( held by assistant)

* Perspex is lighter and cheaper than glass and easier to transport.

Camera Settings

ISO 400
200mm
f/2.8 at 1/80th second
Daylight

I’ve used a long focal length of 200mm and short depth of field of f/2.8 because I wanted my models eyes to be in focus and the background to be out of focus.

The lighting in this shot is very simple daylight coming in from a large window directly behind me.

The model is also backlit by two large windows directly behind her.

Lighting diagram

Attach venetian blinds to your stand

Venetians 50

I positioned my model behind the venetians and then took a test shot to make sure my exposure was correct.

Venetian no glass 7

The Perspex is then held in front of the Venetian and tilted forward slightly to minimize reflections.

Flare 50

The style and type of reflections will vary depending on the location you shoot in.
I experimented by having the Perspex tilted at various angles. The example above has a slightly more mysterious vibe because the face is obscured by reflections.

Finally I introduced texture to the image by spraying water on the Perspex.

Final

The post Room with a View: How to Create this Window with Blinds Portrait Anywhere by Gina Milicia appeared first on Digital Photography School.

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Apartment Arcade: Passersby Play Game Through Window

30 Jan

[ By Steph in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

Apartment Arcade 1

A large storefront window in a Belgian designer’s work/live space invites passersby to pause and play an arcade game with a fun interactive installation. Where others living in such a busy urban location might want to prevent strangers from peering into their private spaces, Kris Temmerman asks them to stop and stay a while.

Apartment Arcade 2

Tennerman designed and created the entire thing himself, including the console that’s currently attached to the exterior windowsill and the LED screen. The game is run on an Arduino without an external computer, just to make the process a little more challenging.

Apartment Arcade 3

The game is also his own creation, and he even had a friend record the music. “I needed something that would appeal to a large audience (the people in my street) and something was fun to play. So I took the good old gaming cliché, where the world gets invaded by aliens and you have to fight your way to the end boss, save the world and the human race . With my minimal resolution of 16*90 pixels, I didn’t have much other choice than making it pixel-art style.”

Apartment Arcade 4

The entire process, including diagrams of the wiring, can be found in detail at Tennerman’s website.

[ By Steph in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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House of Glass: Cabin Facade from Antique Window Frames

16 Sep

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

house glass front facade

On an unusual kind of cross-country road trip, this couple visited garage sales, antique dealers and added these to other roadside finds, all toward the quest of assembling an an eccentric collection of windows for a unique dream home.

house of glass

house glass room interior

Creators Lilah Horwitz and Nick Olson are, respectively, a designer and photographer, but with a common architectural vision of a home where one whole facade would be made of windows. The goal: let sunsets illuminate the structure’s entire interior space, creating a multitude of views, wood-framed through artfully arranged window openings.

house glass night view

The result sits on the sunny hills of West Virginia, a rustic-style cabin in which the front-facing fenestration is the dominant design feature. The assemblage reflects their personalities – the hands-on approach Olson takes with his camera and images, and the landscaping and fashion experience of Horwitz.

house glass hill context

house glass exterior view

In turn, Matt Glass and Jordan Wayne Long interviewed the couple for a short seven-minute film on Half Cut Tea. The result shows the pair of creatives but also the context of their creation via shots of the surrounding landscape and entry path as well as the dwelling itself by daylight and at night.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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