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CastAR 3D: See the Future of Work & Play in Augmented Reality

25 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

virtual augmented reality headset

In this new video, Technical Illusions, the company behind CastAR, a hybrid augmented and virtual reality headset, shows off a series of amazing everyday applications of their technology, dissolving the distinction between real and digital spaces.

A year after raising $ 1,000,000 on Kickstarter, this technology combines but also goes beyond the AR of Google Glass and VR of Oculus Rift: “You and your friends can share this Mixed Reality experience that blends a virtual world into the real world. Move around naturally through this blended environment as you work or play together.”

ar headset gaming design

In founding Technical Illusions and pushing out a viable product in just over a year, Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson (formerly of Valve) have focused on getting something that works out the door and in the hands of users and developers as quickly as possible – in a world of possibilities, concepts and prototypes, their emphasis is refreshingly pragmatic.

ar desktop gaming

The CastAR system consists of a headset with a built-in projector, camera and works in conjunction with retroflective surfaces embedded with infrared LED lights. “The projectors cast a three-dimensional image onto the surface, while the camera uses the LEDs to track your head movement … you can use this unique projected augmented reality technology to do things like view building projects in 3D, play interactive video games and create three-dimensional presentations.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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Road A-Peel: Upside-Down Car Clings to Curling Street

24 Feb

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

hanging car 6

An upside-down, cherry-red car clings improbably to a slice of a concrete parking lot as it curls up over itself in this gravity-defying installation by British artist Alex Chinneck. Hanging in mid-air with no visible supports, ‘Pick yourself up and pull yourself together’ is a collaboration with Vauxhall Motors located just outside London’s Southbank Centre.

hanging car 1

About 50 feet of the parking lot surface appears to have been peeled right up, with the vehicle hanging from its uppermost curve within sight of one of the city’s most iconic landmarks, the London Eye. Hidden sections of steel designed by structural engineers hold the car in place.

hanging car 2

hanging car 3

“I see sculpture as the physical reinterpretation of the material world around us and so by introducing fictional narratives into familiar scenarios, I try to make everyday situations as extraordinary as they can be,” says Chinneck. “I choose to do this through illusions because I think there is something both optimistic and captivating about defying the realms of possibility.”

hanging car 5

“With an effortlessly curling road I hoped to transcend the material nature of tarmac and stone, giving these typically inflexible materials an apparent fluidity. Vauxhall Motors allowed me a great amount of creative freedom and this collaboration offered my studio an exciting platform to explore new areas of engineering and fabrication.”

Top image by Richard Simms

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Rooftop Recreation: 12 Vertigo-Inducing Sky-High Hangouts

24 Feb

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

sky high tennis

Test your tolerance for stomach-churning heights by dangling over the edge of the western hemisphere’s tallest freestanding tower, zip lining high above the Las Vegas strip, swimming up to the invisible edge of a skyscraper rooftop swimming pool or taking a tour of Stockholm from atop its architecture.

Dubai Rooftop Tennis Court

rooftop tennis court dubai 2

burj dubai tennis

There’s definitely something nerve-wracking about watching a pair of tennis players back up almost all the way to the edge of this sky-high helipad tennis court in Dubai – it’s far too easy to imagine them just sailing right over the safety net. The world’s highest tennis court was a temporary installation atop the Burj al Arab luxury hotel, built in the lead-up to the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open in 2005. Andre Agassi and Roger Federer were invited to play a game for fun before the real competition began, over 1,000 feet above the ground.

Edgewalk at the CN Tower

rooftop cn tower

edgewalk

Feeling especially adventurous? See just how much height you can handle at Toronto’s CN Tower, the tallest freestanding structure in the Western Hemisphere, where the ‘EdgeWalk’ attraction allows you to dangle over the edge of a five-foot ledge that circles around the tower’s roof. Attached to a metal frame with harnesses, thrill-seekers lean out from a five-foot-wide ledge to gaze at the ground 1,168 feet below.

Rooftop Racetrack at Former Fiat Factory, Italy

Event participants - Action

rooftop racetrack 2

rooftop racetrack 1

Built on the roof of a Fiat factory that opened in Turin, Italy in 1923, this race track formerly functioned as a place to take freshly-assembled cars on a test run. After it closed in 1982, architect Renzo Piano helped transform it into a public space complete with a shopping center, theater, hotel and art gallery as well as a helipad and glassed-in spherical rooftop meeting room. Unfortunately, aside from being featured in a few films, it’s no longer in active use as a race track.

Boating and Golfing at Selfridges’ Pleasure Garden, London

rooftop selfridges

You can relax in a traditional English garden, play some mini-golf or even row around in a boat on the rooftop of the Selfridge’s department store in London. In 2012, the space opened for the first time since its bombing in World War II, prior to which it was a ‘pleasure garden‘ popular for strolling after shopping. The historic rooftop recreation area now holds special events like the ‘Truvia Voyage of Discovery’ art installation, in which shoppers floated on the surface of a fluorescent green rooftop lake.

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Rooftop Recreation 12 Vertigo Inducing Sky High Hangouts

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Inevitably Graffitied: White Canvas-Like SoHo Facade Defaced

23 Feb

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

storefront studio front entry

While its creators anticipated this stretched plastic surface appealing to local graffiti artists, they were apparently hoping for a higher grade of street art to adorn the Storefront for Art and Architecture gallery facade in New York City.

soho storefront white wall

storefront graffiti art vandalism

Architecture studio SO-IL created this temporary surface as an extension of an exhibition going on within the gallery space, but its creators remain somewhat disappointed: “We knew this would happen. Unrestrained, Storefront pushes itself into the public domain. By wrapping it in a white canvas it further provokes a response from the city. It was anticipated, but what a poor quality of the graffiti… We had hoped for something better.”

storefront installation art facade

storefront lit at night

So far, tags like “ugly kids” and other scrawled messages have been mainly black spray on the white background – nothing layered or time-consuming. Of course, now that the memo is out, perhaps a different kind of artist will take a try at the surface – that, or the statements may backfire, with artists wondering why they should add value to someone else’s surface.

storefront studio interior view

soho storefront graffiti defaced

Illuminated and pressed outward by walls and objects from within the gallery, part of the idea was to draw people into the exhibit by creating visual interest along the street and sidewalk – a novel trick for attracting attention. Still, if this kind of impromptu artistic addition was expected, why not simply invite a group of graffiti artists to contribute in the first place? In the end, once one concedes a surface will be defaced, either it will unfold naturally and unpredictably or will have to be controlled by the property owners – there is no real middle ground.

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

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Checked Out: Ten Permanently Vacant Abandoned Motels

23 Feb

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

abandoned motel 1
Motels have been in decline for decades – even Norman Bates knew that – and these abandoned motels illustrate a fundamental shift in travel trends.

abandoned motel 1a

abandoned motel 1b

abandoned motel 1c

People are still traveling by car, of course, but the roads they travel these days are often different then those used in the post-war era when the motel boom shifted into high gear. Travelers can easily make the shift from highways to freeways… motels (especially non-chain independent ones), not so much. Overlooked by vehicular travelers, once-thriving establishments like the old Hillcrest Motel along the Lincoln Highway outside Jefferson, Iowa, have no future other than fading into the underbrush.

Killed With Fire

abandoned motel 2a

abandoned motel 2b

abandoned motel 2c

The West Pike Motor Lodge near Coudersport, PA, was likely long past its peak when a (possibly convenient) fire put it out of its misery in 2010. Accidents will happen… especially when the nearest fire station just isn’t near enough. Kudos to Flickr user Bill Van Ryn for capturing the desolate state of the abandoned motel in October of 2012.

M TEL

abandoned motel 3a

abandoned motel 3b

abandoned motel 3c

Pocasset’s abandoned “Picture Lake M TEL” offers everything vacationers to Cape Cod could desire including air conditioned rooms and a swimming pool. What the sign doesn’t state is that the AC hasn’t conditioned any air since Reagan was in office and the pool is about as appealing as the one from Poltergeist. Flickr user D. Brigham visited the abandoned motel in July of 2010 – hopefully he wasn’t planning on spending the night.

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Checked Out Ten Permanently Vacant Abandoned Motels

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Dubai ‘Torch’ Tower Catches Fire, Extinguished with No Deaths

22 Feb

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

torch tower fires

A multistory fire raged up the side of this 1,105-foot skyscraper last night, one of the tallest in Dubai, exacerbated by high winds and casting molten glass and charred masonry from the so-called Torch tower down to the ground below. A few people were treated on the scene for minor injuries and smoke inhalation but no serious casualties have been reported.

torch building fire dubai

The blaze appears to have begun around the 50th floor at 2 AM local time before progressing up the side of the building and ultimately igniting other parts of the facade thanks to windswept debris – arson is not suspected at this time. Remarkably, firefighters managed to catch the fire relatively quickly and put out the inferno in a matter of hours despite unfavorable conditions.

Fire engulfs one of Dubai's highest residential towers #TorchTower pic.twitter.com/OyFVC78w85

— Asma (@LibyanBentBladi) February 21, 2015

#????_??????_??? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ??? ???? ?????? ?? ??????? ?????? .. ???? ???? ????? .. #????_???????? pic.twitter.com/er7YmaiKkK

— ????? ??? (@Humanfirst_) February 21, 2015

Home to over 600 residential units, occupants of the Marina Torch are being temporarily relocated by its building managers (Kingfield Owner Association Management Services) while damage is assessed. At this time it is not certain when, how or even whether the structure will be restored.

dubai torch building before

Marina's #TorchTower after the fire http://t.co/zfY0CsRYvC pic.twitter.com/Bpk1INSNAa

— Gulf News (@gulf_news) February 21, 2015

Salute to heroes @DCDDubai @DubaiPoliceHQ @DCAS_Ambulance for getting everyone out safe #TorchTower #DubaiMarina pic.twitter.com/6SblKogXs9

— megha merani (@dxbmaven) February 21, 2015

While not unheard of historically, skyscraper fires (especially serious ones) are quite rare today, particularly in developed nations where strict building codes and appropriate material usage helps mitigate their risk. Generally they are caused either during construction or due to significant external factors, such as plane crashes (intentional but also accidental) or earthquakes. Images via the AP, EPA, Reuters and WikiMedia.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Playful in Paris: Life-Sized Interactive Street Art

20 Feb

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

levalet street art 1

Everyday objects and imperfections in the urban surfaces of Paris become part of strange and unexpected scenes as French artist Levalet incorporates them into life-sized street art. A bull head sculpture becomes a minotaur, map in hand; a figure with a jackhammer goes to work on a damaged section of wall; a display box for advertisements is transformed into an x-ray machine.

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levalet street art 2

Known by day as an art teacher named Charles Leval, the artist creates humorous scenes that interact with idiosyncrasies and often-unnoticed details in the fabric of the city.

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The life-sized wheat paste posters take advantage of everything from pipes and spigots to false windows and concrete recesses.

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Levalet walks around the city looking for the ideal spots for his work, takes measurements and creates the paste-ups at home before returning to his chosen locations and installing the work.

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He told Street Art News that he considers all of the individual scenes to be part of a larger frame, “where I try to define a cosmology of a parallel world.”

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

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Sunken Sky: Courtyard Light Well Suspended in Warehouse Loft

20 Feb

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

converted warehouse 1

A formerly dark, poorly ventilated caviar warehouse is illuminated naturally thanks to a sunken courtyard with a retractible glass roof, connecting the interior spaces to an outdoor terrace, acting as both a space and a sort of floating lantern in the unit. Many of the historic details of the 1884 building in Manhattan’s Tribeca North have been preserved in the renovation, including weathered roof joists, antique windows and brick walls.

converted warehouse 2

converted warehouse 3

The converted loft by architect Andrew Franz occupies the top floor and roof of the old industrial building, reusing as many of the original materials as possible. The glass courtyard functions as a mid-level in the open-plan space, with a new staircase with reclaimed walnut roof joists as the treads and landing leading up to the transparent indoor/outdoor room.

converted warehouse 4

converted warehouse 5

When the retractible roof is open, fresh air flows freely into the living space. When closed, it functions as a 150-square-foot skylight during the day. An additional staircase provides access to a rooftop garden planted with native, low-water plant species.

converted warehouse 6

converted warehouse 8

New walnut cabinetry connects the modern elements of the loft to the historic, highlighting the building’s industrial past and simultaneously creating a space that feels warm and comfortable. Vivid orange in the kitchen backsplash and furniture add pops of color throughout the mostly-neutral space.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Converted Crane: 150-Foot-Tall Dutch Hotel Spins in the Wind

19 Feb

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

a Faralda NDSM Crane Hotel Amsterdam

Featuring three suites toward its peak (and a spa pool to top it off), this boutique hotel is situated in one of the tallest and oldest maritime cranes in the world – and despite the steel frame weighing a whopping 250 tons, it still slowly rotates with the weather.

a Jacuzzi Top deck

a dutch hotel vup

After three years of rehabilitation, code approval and other obstacles (include the search for a 500-pound bomb left from a previous World War), this remarkable transformation is complete and rooms are now open for rent at the Faralda Crane Hotel.

a dutch historical use

a dutch crane lift

The lower part of the structure also features a conference, television and festival room that can be tied to renting out the rest of the spaces or used independently. If that isn’t exciting enough for you and your friends, guests can also bungee jump from the top of the crane as well.

a dutch restoration project

a dutch crane hoist

The rotational effects (top able to move independently of the bottom) are not to be underestimated, demanding a great deal of engineering ingenuity: “Because the Faralda Crane hotel keeps spinning in the wind it is fit with a rotating shaft and a pivot bearing with gold. In the drag link are the gold connectors to guarantee the Internet connection to the Amsterdam Fire Department. The genius and always turning piping system has been specially designed for this Crane.”

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Converted Crane Hotel 150 Foot Tall Resort Spins In The Wind

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

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Banknote Bombing: Hacked Currency Spotlights Instability

19 Feb

[ By Steph in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

hacked money 7

The grim reaper lurks, one man steps on another’s head, crowds cling precariously to window ledges and the people begin to revolt in a series of hacked Euro bank notes by artist Stefanos. The simple images, inked onto the currency, make a statement on the current social and economic stability in the artist’s home country of Greece.

hacked money 1

hacked money 2

“Observing the Euro banknote landscapes one notices a lack of any reality, whatsoever for the last five years the crumbling Greek economy has hatched violence and social decay – so, I decided to fuse these two things. Through hacking the banknotes I’m using a European a document [sic], that is in cross-border circulation, including Greece – thus, the medium allows me to ‘bomb’ public property from the comfort of my home.”

hacked money 3

hacked money 4

hacked money 5

The drawings make use of the existing imagery on the currency, including recognizable ancient Greek monuments, ornate Gothic windows, modern architecture and aqueducts. Just the slightest marking on a bill can completely change one’s perception of the printed imagery.

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hacked money 8

See more currency art, including defaced U.S. dollars featuring pop culture icons, portraits made of shredded cash and money origami.

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

CastAR 3D: See the Future of Work & Play in Augmented Reality

Road A-Peel: Upside-Down Car Clings to Curling Street

Rooftop Recreation: 12 Vertigo-Inducing Sky-High Hangouts

Dubai Rooftop Tennis Court

Edgewalk at the CN Tower

Rooftop Racetrack at Former Fiat Factory, Italy

Boating and Golfing at Selfridges’ Pleasure Garden, London

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Rooftop Recreation 12 Vertigo Inducing Sky High Hangouts

Inevitably Graffitied: White Canvas-Like SoHo Facade Defaced

Checked Out: Ten Permanently Vacant Abandoned Motels

Killed With Fire

M TEL

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Checked Out Ten Permanently Vacant Abandoned Motels

Dubai ‘Torch’ Tower Catches Fire, Extinguished with No Deaths

Playful in Paris: Life-Sized Interactive Street Art

Sunken Sky: Courtyard Light Well Suspended in Warehouse Loft

Converted Crane: 150-Foot-Tall Dutch Hotel Spins in the Wind

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Converted Crane Hotel 150 Foot Tall Resort Spins In The Wind

Banknote Bombing: Hacked Currency Spotlights Instability

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

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Killed With Fire

M TEL

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