Category: Creativity

Drawing Machines: 13 Rivetingly Creative Art-Making Robots

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Is it the human element that’s crucial in calling a creation ‘art,’ or does it still count even if it was made by a robot? Adding to the age-old debate attempting to define a fairly abstract concept, robotic art mimics human movements or transcends them altogether using all sorts of computer programs, magnets, pendulums and CNC machines. One even draws blood and uses it as ink to create a portrait of the artist in his own bodily fluids.

Robot Draws Artist’s Portrait in His Own Blood

Artist Ted Lawson’s blood was fed intravenously straight to a CNC machine to paint his own portrait for ‘Ghost in the Machine.’ The project uses a robot arm to trace a programmed illustration in squiggly red lines. For Lawson, the experience was… draining. “I want to show the connection between our existential humanity and the ever-expanding technology that we use, are addicted to and rely on, as something deeply personal and very real. I’m trying to repeal the underlying code that is present in all things.”

Kinetic Sand Drawing Machines by Bruce Shapiro

The Sisyphus machine by Bruce Shapiro automatically creates incredibly intricate drawings in sand using magnets, steel marbles and a computerized motion control system. It’s mesmerizing to watch, the patterns seemingly appearing out of nowhere, the steel balls moving all on their own. Shapiro is planning a tabletop consumer version. As Shapiro explains the name, “For the crime of cheating death, Sisyphus must push his boulder up the mountain only to have it roll back down each day. For all eternity.”

Lounge in a Hot Tub and Watch a Robot Build with Salt

Watch from a hot tub as a robot plays in twelve tons of salt poured onto the entire floor of a gallery space, pushing and extruding it into abstract shapes resembling city skylines. Artist Jonathan Schipper’s installation ‘Detritus’ makes the viewers a destructive element in the scene, as their movement to and from the water destroys what the robot has created. “Objects are continuously being formed but, due to the fragility of the salt crystals used to make them, they deteriorate at nearly the same rate new ones are being built. This installation is an attempt to create a vantage point that is impossible in the real world. A vantage point that both condenses and speeds up time and provides an objective view of the things we value which, at times, we recognize as merely detritus.”

Pinball Prints: Art from Chaos

The movement of an ink-colored sphere is captured on a piece of paper, set within the guts of an old pinball machine. STYN by Sam van Doorn creates prints that get more complex depending on how good you are at the game. “In a time of digitization of the work process, you can easily forget the freedom and fun of play,” says the artist. “By creating new tools, you give yourself the opportunity to break free from standards in design.”

3D Drawing Machine Splits Your Vision to Help You Trace

Not so confident in your artistic skills? While it’s not entirely autonomous, this machine will help you produce strikingly accurate drawings by screwing with your brain a little bit. ‘Vision’ splits your ocular system to create two images of your subject, so that you can trace one directly onto the curved surface before you.

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Drawing Machines 13 Rivetingly Creative Art Making Robots

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Rube Goldberg Machines: Making the Simple, Complicated

Rube Goldberg loved to draw complicated machines designed to complete wonderfully simple tasks. Here are 10 examples of Rube Goldberg’s enduring oddball legacy:
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Robots of Brixton: A Short Dystopian Film by Factory Fifteen

Robot protagonists engage in an urban uprising in London’s Brixton neighborhood in this short dystopian digital film by Factory Fifteen.
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Revolutionary Robots: 16 Cool & Crazy Creations

These 16 robots can save fish from danger, spray graffiti, help disabled people regain mobility, squeeze ketchup, stop your snoring and perform exotic dances.
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[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 9, 2015
High Art Hits Streets: Classical Paintings in Modern Settings

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

If context is critical to understanding art, then what happens to a work when you push a famous piece through time and space to a highly familiar and everyday place? Where fine artwork meets street scenes, strange and beautiful things begin to happen.

In a series called Art History in Contemporary Life, Ukrainian artist Alexey Kondakov elaborately relocates key figures from their historical canvasses into jarringly mundane settings, putting classical art in modern contexts. The results are seamless and convincing – one could almost imagine rehanging the hybrid works back up in museums.

Madonna, child and a chorus of angels are suddenly found sitting in a dirty subway car, cherubs flutter below a shanty overhang and a half-naked hand harp player spins tunes for pennies for commuting pedestrians. Famous figures share drinks at a modern dive while lovers kiss on a darkened subway car.

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Classical Art in Modern Contexts: 25 Clever Artistic Remixes

Renaissance angels cling to each other in front of a graffitied wall, hellish medieval imagery is splashed across a pair of Doc Marten boots and God has met …
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A Tale of Two Londons: Classic Paintings x Modern Photos

London may have changed just a tiny bit since the 17th century, but you’d hardly know it looking at some of these mash-ups of classic paintings …
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Emoji-Nation: Famous Paintings Revised for the Internet Age

In a world of mobile devices, share icons and popup alerts, fine art is interrupted by signs and symbols of our times, adding a jarring layer of technology to …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 8, 2015
No Perking: 15 Drained Dry Abandoned Coffee Shops

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

These 15 drained, disused & abandoned coffee shops recall a kinder, gentler, perkier time before Starbucks rebrewed the latte lover’s landscape.

Black gold, Texas tea… not the rich dark liquid you were looking for? Well you’re lookin’ in the wrong place, pardner. Said to be “a far West Texas oil town eatery” that last flourished along with the rest of Penwell, Texas back in the Roaring Twenties, the Joker Coffee Shop looks to have last provided service (with a smile) long, long ago.

Regarding the stuffed leopard in the former cafe’s restroom, let’s just say they didn’t call it The Joker for nothing. Hey kitty, why so serious?

Beaver Tales

Here’s a late and no doubt lamented “abandoned coffee shop/adult entertainment facility” in Okayama, Japan. The place’s name is “Beaver” (of course); Flickr user Trevor Williams visited the site in June of 2009 for some, shall we say, “creative photography” and we are SO glad he did!

3 Stars, Yer Out!

Central Perk it ain’t… The cozy 3 Star Coffee Shop on Columbus Avenue at 86th Street in Manhattan’s West Side has seen better days, as have almost every other store on the block.

West Side Rag‘s “intrepid tipster Kenneth” (hey, it’s better than being an intrepid hipster) was sent to check out the abandoned coffee shop in August of 2014 and he was, shall we say, less than impressed: “Half torn out. There must have been 1 million flies inside. Clearly, food must have been left inside.” Guess their signature Donut Burger Sandwiches didn’t exactly sell like Cronuts.

Hey Jo…

Starbucks may have dealt traditional coffee shops a wicked uppercut; then McCafe moved in to deliver the knockout punch – at least, such can be surmised about the above abandoned Jo To Go in Savannah, Georgia. “This drive-thru coffee shop was built in the parking lot of the shopping center at the corner of Waters Ave. and Eisenhower Drive, behind a McDonald’s, in the spring or summer of 2007,” according to Flickr user C-Bunny, “and had closed sometime earlier this (2010) year.”

Denny’s Destiny

When Flickr user Charles Hathaway snapped the sad state of Denny’s Coffee Shop (and adjoining motel) in Palm Springs, California, he hedged his commentary by stating “It seems like someone has bought the land with the intention of re-opening the motel.” Hope someone’s watering the palms in the meantime.

“A restaurant will likely open in this former Denny’s once the motel opens.” That was in January of 2008… what was the ultimate fate of this palm-treed oasis and its Space Age architecture and awesome flying saucer chandelier?

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No Perking 15 Drained Dry Abandoned Coffee Shops

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Fresh Blends: 12 Cool Multi-Functional Coffee Shops

Multi-purpose ‘combo’ coffee shops combine a beverage bar with other services like washing clothes, printing documents or getting a pedicure from a tank of …
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Empty Chambers: 10 Closed & Abandoned Gun Stores & Shops

If your business involves getting fired, going off half cocked or triggering bankruptcy, you just might be one of these 10 closed and/or abandoned gun shops.
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Checked Out: Ten Permanently Vacant Abandoned Motels

Motels have been in decline for decades – even Norman Bates knew that – and these abandoned motels illustrate a fundamental shift in travel trends.
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[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 7, 2015
Travelbox: Pop-Up Furniture Set Fits in 1 Cubic-Meter Trunk

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Combining elements of flat-pack furniture and traditional travel trunks, this pop-up furnishing kit for urban nomads comes complete with a bed, chair, table, storage space and even a bicycle for getting around town. For temporary city dwellers who move frequently for work or fun, this solution provides an all-in-one interior design alternative to selling and rebuying furniture or paying extra for furnished rental residences.

Weighing just 132 pounds and measuring under 7 feet long, 4 feet tall and just over 1 foot wide, the kit is designed to ship easily using conventional methods, able to be strapped to a car roof, packed in a container or shipped by truck, rail, boat or plane.

Durable exterior aluminum construction, solid wood framing and careful planning help make the exterior robust and interior travel-ready. The container itself becomes part of the finished product, serving as storage, shelving and space divider all rolled into one.

Its creator, Stephan Juust, is putting his time where his money is and currently taking the Travelbox on the road while he tours around Europe. While it remains a prototype for now, his aim with this system is to ultimatley provide an alternative to buying and selling furniture when moving. At the same time, his solution offers surprisingly high-quality construction, crafty details and nice finishes that help make furnishings feel personalized and places really feel like homes.

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Resource Furniture: Convertible Designs for Small Spaces

Multifunctional and convertible furniture solutions from Resource Furniture unfold and expand in unexpected ways, fitting lots of function into tiny rooms.
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Modular Minimalism: 5-Part Kit to Create Infinite Furniture

Beds, tables, shelves, chairs, couches and loveseats can be created in effectively any configuration using this series of essential elements in all sorts of …
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Minimalist Wood Peg Furniture is Easy to Assemble & Store

Assemble your own custom set of furniture using no tools at all, then take it apart in minutes and hang it on the wall with StudioGorm’s Wood Peg set.
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[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 7, 2015
Modernized Monument: Crumbling Medieval Tower Turned Library

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Matte black steel and timber-clad stacked volumes fill in empty spaces throughout the medieval Torre del Borgo in northern Italy, a recent renovation stabilizing the crumbling stone walls and connecting the four stories together for transformation into a public library. Still strong after all these centuries, the stone shell of the fortified building works in concert with modern materials to create a space that provides an important function to the community, and helps preserve its history.

Before it was re-designed, the Torre was not only falling apart piece by piece, it lacked adequate means of passage from one floor to the next, and the interiors were unfinished. It needed structural support, extra space and additional windows to make it usable for the city of Bergamo.

Architect Gianluca Gemini came up with “an architectonic and functional reinterpretation of the building” that identifies solutions to the degradation. Black iron ramps and walkways cut across the four main halls, making them fully accessible and highlighting a contrast between the smooth steel and glass and the rough, mottled stone. This solution is visually striking, invisible from outside and leaves plenty of room for library patrons to read and browse.

The timber and concrete addition features floor-to-ceiling glazing to bring more natural light to the interior, and adds floor space, without significantly altering the original stone structure.

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Secular Conversion: Historic Chapel Turned Modern Library

A beautiful old chapel in the Italian town of Lonate Ceppino has been transformed into a modern library with a perforated aluminum tower that adds to the …
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Religious Conversions: 15 Houses of Worship Turned Secular

Transforming these fifteen churches, monasteries and synagogues into homes, libraries and nightclubs hasn’t put a damper on their sense of reverence and …
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Ruins of Crumbling Church Salvaged with Geometric Addition

A faceted glass structure clings to the ruins of a stone church in Santpedor, Spain, filling in a gaping hole that was created with the demolition of an …
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 6, 2015
Public Jewelry: Rugged Urban Art Inspired by Delicate Lace

[ By Delana in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

The idea of beautifying an outdoor space seems straightforward enough – flowers and sculptures and whatnot – but Polish street artist NeSpoon turns that idea into something so beautifully different that it transforms the ordinary into the spectacular.

Working in paint, crochet, and carving, NeSpoon gives dingy and uncared-for urban surfaces new life by adorning them with what she calls “public jewelry.” Her pieces are inspired by lace, often taking on the shapes of enormous doilies painted on the sides of exterior walls.

Other lace-inspired pieces are crocheted into or onto various rough objects to create an extreme visual dichotomy. Some pieces are carved into wood or clay, the intricate patterns looking like entire universes. And then there are the truly random pieces painted onto pieces of concrete or the sides of moored boats.

For many of the pieces, NeSpoon has permission to apply her particular type of artwork on buildings or other public spaces. But some are true urban interventions, appearing in unexpected spaces to provide onlookers with a little bit of beauty and whimsy to brighten their day.

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Guerrilla Lace: Prettied-Up Urban Surfaces in Poland

Urban sidewalks, sewer grates and dingy underpasses aren’t exactly the most likely places to find beautiful large-scale ornamental lace, but for artist …
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Urban Living Room: Feel at Home in Public Places

A cozy, blue-painted living room entices passersby to sit, get to know each other and enjoy entertainment in Rotterdam at the ‘Urban Living Room’ installation.
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Urban Theater of the Absurd: Bizarre Public Performance Art

How can you not stop and watch when a creepy, Chewbacca-like creature is crawling down the street, or a man is projecting his privates onto a public building?
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[ By Delana in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 5, 2015
Relentless Residents: 10 More Households That Refuse to Move

[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

When real estate developers come knocking, it seems that the majority of homeowners are willing to move out for the right price – but then there are some who take a stand and refuse to give up their homes no matter what. Called “holdouts” in some parts of the world and “nail houses” in others, these strong-willed folks decided that they weren’t going to move…so the developers had no choice but to build around them.

Dog Fight: Portland, Oregon

In 2005, attorney Randal Acker purchased a small Queen Anne Victorian home in downtown Portland, Oregon from which to operate his practice. The very next year, developers started buying up all of the property around the building. When they knocked on Acker’s door, they could never have guessed what was in store for them.

Acker calls the building The Figo House, named after his dog who is in turn named after Portuguese soccer player Luis Figo. Although the lawyer’s specialty is in commercial litigation, he resolved to commit as much time as necessary to eminent domain law to save this little piece of Portland history. In 2008, the developer resolved to leave Acker and the Figo house alone – but that didn’t mean they would scrap their construction project. They built a huge Portland State University residence hall around the Figo house – and amazingly, there seem to be no hard feelings on either side.

The construction of the hall to the west of the Figo house was limited to two stories so it would not block the view of the sunset, and a large courtyard lies behind the house, giving the law office plenty of natural light. PSU officials and representatives from the construction company building the residence hall even stopped by with cookies for Acker on the day they broke ground on the project. In 2011, as a nod to the situation’s similarity to the movie Up, Acker proudly flew 400 helium balloons from his chimney, adding a cheery note to this charming story which could only happen in Portland.

Middle-of-the-Motorway Nail Houses: Guangzhou, China

When city planners wanted to connect the road network to a new tunnel under the Pearl River, they needed to make space by clearing some residences from the area. What those planners failed to plan for, however, were the three families who would refuse to leave their homes.

As reported by China Daily, the plans for the four-lane flyover went ahead anyway – with the holdout households right in the middle. While we can’t imagine it’s pleasant for those families to live right in the middle of all that traffic noise, we definitely appreciate the gumption that it takes to stand your ground, even when bulldozers are right outside of your door.

The Little Jeweler That Wouldn’t Give Up: London

Anyone who has passed the former Wickhams Department Store in London’s East End has probably noticed a rather odd feature: a tiny building that seems to be stuck into the big store’s facade. That little store has a fascinating past and might be one of the greatest real estate holdout stories ever. It was formerly Spiegelhalters Jewellers, a family business dating back to the early 19th century.

In 1892, Spiegelhalters acquiesced to Wickhams when the larger store wanted to expand; the jewelers moved their shop down the street. When Wickhams wanted to expand again in the 1920s and again asked Spiegelhalters to move, the store owners refused. Wickhams, not to be thwarted in their quest for domination of Mile End Road, adjusted the architecture of their gigantic building so that it would wrap around the little jeweler’s shop.

The result was somewhat humorous – the “central” tower had to be moved to one side of the little shop, and the hole in the facade threw off the symmetry of the building. But Spiegelhalters held tight and managed to outlast the Goliath that had overshadowed them for decades. Wickhams closed in the 1960s and Spiegelhalters remained in business until 1982. In early 2015, developers again wanted to knock down the little building but were thwarted by thousands of signatures on a petition to save the shop. Sadly, all that remained of it at that point is the facade – but even that little piece of the original Spiegelhalters is a cherished landmark that Londoners won’t soon let go of.

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Relentless Residents 10 More Households That Refuse To Move

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Nail House: Holdout Building Had Highway Built Around It

China is full of strange stories of so-called ‘nail houses’ – homes of people who refuse to move to make way for a large development project.
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Holdout Houses: 10 Stubborn Structures That Won’t Make Way

Despite the emergence of highways, shopping malls, frighteningly deep pits and even moats around them, the tenacious owners of these older structures refused …
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Paradigm-Shifting Printable House Buildable in Just 4 Weeks

Building a home with traditional methods is a long and drawn-out process often full of delays, disappointments and stress.
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[ By Delana in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 4, 2015
Split Personality: Chaos vs Calm in Half-Painted Hotel Room

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

This hotel room is a little bit minimalist, a little bit rock n’ roll, and if you’re too much of the former persuasion, the chaos of the latter half might irritate your less-is-more sensibilities. Seen straight-on, the installation by Kiev artist Pavel Vetrov looks like a Photoshopped illusion, or perhaps a split view of a before-and-after design project. Which side is the before and which the after depends on your aesthetic preferences.

A razor-sharp line divides the two halves of the room, beginning at the top of the back wall, traveling right through the center of the bed and across the floor to the other wall. Everything from the duvet and TV cabinet to the books and a canvas propped against the brick gets the half-painted treatment.

On the minimalist side, nearly everything is colorless, save for a few pops of vibrancy in the wall art. The other side is a creative explosion of paint and prints, with designs scrawled all over nearly every surface.

The installation is inspired by a 2012 project called ‘Panic Room’ by French graffiti artist TILT, who took one half of a monochromatic hotel room and completely obliterated every hint of white. The original state of the room reflects a feeling of calmness, while the other half is utterly chaotic, hence the project’s name.

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Street-Chic Boutique: Stunning Half-Graffitied Hotel Room

Dubbed “The Panic Room” this daring dwelling space is more designed to make you panic than as a place to flee during a (real or panic) attack.
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Botel: Floating Hotel with Modular Detachable Room Boats

Instead of static spaces, the unique sleeping areas in this hotel are dynamic vehicles you can use to depart the core structure in which you are staying.
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Transformer Hotel: Tiny Room Showcases Convertible Furniture

Deploying three novel pieces of multipurpose furniture, this 240-square-foot space manages to pack in all kinds of secrets, surprises and amenities for guests …
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[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 4, 2015
Mobile, Modern & Modular: 15 Capsules for Off-Grid Living

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

Why stay tethered to the grid in a fixed location when you could live in a compact mobile pod that can be transported to the location of your choice? These modern capsules are what 21st-century off-grid dreams are made of, ranging from spacious self-sustaining retreats to accordion-like expanding shelters that are lightweight enough to tow behind a bicycle.

Tricycle House

Made mostly out of folded polypropylene, ‘Tricycle House’ by People’s Industrial Design Office is lightweight enough to be towed around like a bike trailer. The house can be expanded like an accordion to increase the space inside or make it more compact for travel. Translucent walls let in daylight and all amenities within – including a sink, stove, bath tub, water tank and transforming furniture – is manually powered. The firm also makes ‘tricycle gardens’ to tow alongside the house.

Egg-Like Ecocapsule

Shaped like a massive egg, the Ecocapsule by Nice Architects is a tiny off-grid living pod that’s equipped with all the comforts of home, including a bed, hot showers, flushing toilets and the capability to cook. Powered by solar panels and a built-in turbine, with a back-up battery for cloudy and still days, it can be shipped, air-lifted or towed and fits into a standard shipping container.

Diogene Hut by Renzo Piano

Designed by architect Renzo Piano for the Vitra campus in Weil-am-Rhein, Germany, the Diogene cabin offers 80 square feet for an individual occupant as a “voluntary place of retreat.” Photovoltaic panels and a rainwater retention tank make it self-sufficient, and it’s highly portable. There’s just enough room inside for a bed, table and chair.

Portable Retreat with a Roof Hatch

Three hinged panels open this two-level off-grid retreat to the sky on both the top and bottom floors, enhancing the occupant’s connection to whatever environment they’ve chosen. This mobile wooden shelter by Allergutendinge features a bunch of fold-down elements, hidden storage and a bed that doubles as a staircase to the loft.

Camouflage Stacked Wood Cabin

This ‘invisible hut’ looks like no more than a stack of logs when it’s all closed up, but a hatch on one side drops down to become the terrace for a rustic cabin. The Yeta Log Cabin by Lab Zero can be set up virtually anywhere, and as small and minimal as it is, it comes complete with a kitchen, shower, toilet and solar panels.

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Mobile Modern Modular 15 Capsules For Off Grid Living

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Offbeat & Off the Grid: 15 Surprisingly Mobile Solar Gadgets

Solar power projects go truly off-the-grid in mobile applications that range from practical if goofy solar panel-equipped Ray Bans to donkeys that stroll …
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Pop-Up Office: 14 Modern Mobile Studios for Creatives

Whether you’re an artist looking to work in the most inspiring environment possible or just want to break beyond the cubicle, these mobile and pop-up …
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Extreme Mobile Living: Garbage Trucks to Luxury Campers

There’s nothing like the freedom to move and live where we want. Perhaps the greatest expression of postmodern mobility is when transportation devices are …
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 4, 2015
Converted Cockpit: Cockfighting Arena Turned into Sunken Garden

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Traditionally legal in Peru, many citizens nonetheless find cockfights a morbid and gruesome affair and are thus celebrating the transformation of this sunken coliseum into a meditative and memorial public green space.

Paths, greenery and water features were added in part to lend the sensibilities of monuments and memorials to the place, commemorating the animals who suffered and died within the ring.

Remade by 2.8x Architects, this coliseum in Lima, Peru, has many preserved and reused elements, including large stones and cast concrete either left in place or redeployed on the property with new purposes in mind.

Since cockfighting has been historically seen a sport in the region (and heavily bet upon), bird fighting pits (aka “cockpits”) in the country have been correspondingly prominent and well-constructed places, not the seedy sideshows one may imagine in locations where it is illegal. The driving idea was to reflect the history of the space in the form of preserved ruins while also providing a new experience in this unusually enclosed, semi-subterranean space.

One can still imagine the historical horrors that took place before the conversion – armed with spurs for battle, cocks set about slashing and scraping one another, often resulting in the death of one or both combatants. At the same time, an abstracted yin-and-yang symbol at the center of the sunken circle and lush vegetation on all sides (filling the former stands and seats) conjure fresh and more optimistic feelings and associations among neighbors and visitors.

From the designers: “So the curved lines of the terraces contemplated in the project go on top of the remaining concrete stands, and the levels of these terraces try to maintain the original levels of some of the stands. This way the proportions of the coliseum continue. In the same way, the central space of the garden keeps the same dimensions and characteristics of the arena where the birds used to fight. The project has as background the hills of the residential area. It is because of the surroundings where the project is located, with hills all around, that we chose irregular “talamolle” stone as the main building material.”

“We also used terrazzo, concrete, and green painted iron for some details like the fountain, the circular bench, the wire net, and the ramp at the entry among others. To reinforce the idea of a memorial garden and a place suitable for meditation, elements such as water, a circular ramp all around, and a curved path of stone crossing the central space were included. The path together with the central circular garden form the ying yang, that is the equilibrium center of the whole space. At night the diffused illumination has an important role too.”

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Sunken Memorial Garden Sliced into Submerged Cruise Ship

What if submerged sea vessels could serve some function still visible on the surface of the water, like a memorial to those lost when the ship sunk?
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Ground, Up! Curved Green Sky Gardens Wrap Tower Hotel

The best of both worlds: guests at this hotel get to enjoy skyscraper-high views and still experience layers of intensive greenery on virtually all levels.
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Sunken Sky: Courtyard Light Well Suspended in Warehouse Loft

A formerly dark, poorly ventilated caviar warehouse is illuminated naturally thanks to a sunken courtyard with a retractible glass roof, connecting the …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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WebUrbanist

June 3, 2015