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Cool as Ice: 10 Years of Artist-Made Shanties on Frozen Lakes

17 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Over the past decade, over 1,000 artists and 60,000 visitors have taken part in this incredible seasonal arts event, coming together to create an annual temporary arts community-on-ice in one of the nation’s coldest states.

art shanty village overview

art shanty ice dice

Known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes” but also as a center for the arts, Minnesota seems the perfect place for the Art Shanty Projects – a temporary autonomous zone where two disparate concepts to come together: the tradition of ice shacks built for fishing and the idea of public, interactive, community-built art on those same iced surfaces.

art shanty aerial view

art shanty collection image

Comparisons have been made to Burning Man, but those sell short the unique local nature of this undertaking. One thing they do share, however, is a harsh (if opposite) environmental context that makes serious demands on buildings and shapes their form and function. The resulting structures are a mixture of wooden stick-framed shacks, metal geodesic domes, triangular tipis and other proven engineering approaches mixed with creative touches and unusual applications.

art shanty party time

ART SHANTY INTERIORS

In years past, first on Medicine Lake and later White Bear Lake, the spaces these shape have featured a little bit of everything, from interactive games and dance floors to indoor and outdoor theatrical and musical performances. Sometimes a wild art car or two can be spotted patrolling the streets of the the shanty village as well and strange sculptures have been known to crop up in between buildings as well. While some things are scheduled, visitors learn to expect the unexpected.

art shanty rainbow arc

art shanty robot play

This winter, the Art Shanty Projects is taking a break from the On-Ice Program to celebrate 10 years of success and complete a pivotal transition into an official non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. However, the organization is hosting a fundraising retrospective featuring some of the best shanties of years past as well as a custom-brewed beer specifically created for the event, taking place on February 28th at the Fulton Brewery in Minneapolis (more details can be found on ArtShantyProjects.org). Anyone wishing to donate to next year’s program can also do so online at Give.MN. This year, ASP is also a finalist for an Art Place America grant and is competing for a Black Rock Arts Foundation grant.

art shanty building process

art shanty night light

More about ASP: “Art Shanty Projects is an artist driven temporary community exploring the ways in which relatively unregulated public spaces can be used as new and challenging artistic environments to expand notions of what art can be. Our organization values artists, art in all communities, and the importance of interaction between the two. Through an array of artists receiving fair wages for their work, we broaden perceptions of art while maintaining respect for the environment and communities in which we work.” Note: the writer of this article serves as on the Board of Directors for the Art Shanty Projects, an unpaid position.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Coke Machine Acts as a Secret Portal to Hidden Speakeasy

17 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

hidden speakeasy

You’d never guess that there’s anything amiss at ‘The Press,’ a sandwich bar in Shanghai, unless you actually witnessed the surreal sight of someone pulling a lever on a vintage Coca-Cola machine and disappearing into it. The soda machine acts as a secret entrance to ‘The Flask,’ a contemporary lounge that forms a stark contrast to the brightly-lit sandwich shop.

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Collectively known as The Flash and the Press, this hidden speakeasy by Alberto Caiola may not be the only such concept in town, but with the Coke machine and unexpected visuals, it adds another layer to the experience of accessing an exclusive-feeling ‘secret’ space.

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Once you open the door to that machine, the fun, bright, upbeat environment of the diner melts away and you’re enveloped by a dark, angular elegance marrying traditional speakeasy details like oversized glass liquor bottles with modern aesthetics. The bar is dimly-lit and eclectically furnished to recreate the subversive, fly-by-night feel of the originals.

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Another hidden speakeasy, this one in New York, requires a bit more of visitors in order to gain access – you have to meander up a winding path through a deserted building to reach what seems like an industrial wasteland. ‘The Night Heron’ was held illegally inside a water tower on top of a vacant building in Chelsea.

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Celestial Cityscapes: Photographing Dubai from Above the Fog

16 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

dubai skyscrapers above fog

Home to the tallest building in the world, Dubai is a city rich in skyscrapers that seem almost otherworldly when seen piercing through seasonal layers of urban fog.

dubai city aerial view

dubai sunrise cloud city

Photographer Daniel Cheong resides in this surreal desert city and has taken to capturing images of it from above, particularly during times when the weather is transitioning from warm to cool and producing the effects seen in these shots.

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dubai dawn cloud city

In some cases the viewer can see glimpses of the streets, buildings and marina below, but in others the entire built landscape appears perched on a layer of clouds.

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dubai landing planet

While his photographs do represent reality, they also employ digital blending techniques that combine multiple exposures to make them seem almost more real than reality (but without the stretched effects sometimes seen in overly-processed HDR).

dubai fog blues

In doing so, he emphasizes “this slight element of the surreal, or hyper-reality often found in painting.” A world traveler, Cheong was “born in Mauritius, originally of Chinese descent, and French by nationality.” Of his picture-taking prowess, he writes: “I’ve always loved photography, but only became serious about it when I bought my first DSLR in Singapore, back in 2006.”

dubai cryogenic sunrise

“I then aimed to perfect the technique of Digital Blending, which consists of manually blending multiple bracketed exposures in order to obtain the maximum dynamic range, while trying to keep a very natural look and avoiding the common mistake of many ‘overcooked’ HDR images. This slight element of the surreal, or hyper reality often found in painting is what I am trying to achieve”

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Non-Stop Rail: 2 Future Trains Pick Up Passengers in Motion

16 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

Saving time, energy and bridging the gap between high-speed rail and local-only service, these proposed solutions (each in their own unique way) let people board and disembark at their leisure while the main train speeds along. In on case, passengers wait inside an ancillary car that hooks into a passing bullet train – in the other, they step seamlessly across a dock when changing between slower and faster trains.

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First, the overhead-car approach (illustrated above) from China, a country that has long been on the cutting-edge of record-fast rail travel, pioneering magnetic levitation trains and incredibly fast cross-country routes with few stops in between. One simply steps into the upper cabin and then walks down into the main train once the two sync up. A second approach, proposed by PriestmanGoode and shown below, involves synchronizing two trains alongside one another then allowing each to dock with the other in transit.

transfer train passenger idea

Aside from being more energy-efficient, a lot of other standard frustrations of train travel are rendered obsolete by one or both approaches, like queuing up, pushing and shoving for quick entrances and exits at the right stop (an issue you will know is serious if you have ever ridden Chinese trains or subways). In the case of Moving Platforms from PG, train transfers in general could be made faster and smoother without requiring stops along the way.

At this stage, the concepts look promising but some technical questions still need to be resolved, including whether using wheels makes the most sense (in the Chinese variant) and the speed reduction required on the part of the passing train to make the two meet smoothly (in either case). Both, however, address a huge pain point in transportation as well as energy efficiency: slowing, stopping and waiting for and between public transit rides. Eventually, one could imagine an omni-directional maglev system taking people directly from buildings to their trains without needing to stop or transfer along the way.

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Smart Bikes: Connected Parts Use GPS to Prevent Theft

15 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

smart bikes 1

Never lose a bike to theft again with smart, GPS-connected parts that alert you when it’s moved without your permission. Two new bike accessories that can be swapped out with standard parts on virtually any bike not only track your bike’s location, but also provide turn-by-turn, eyes-free navigation so you can get to where you’re going without having to glance at your phone.

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The first is smrtGRiPS by Boréal Bikes, a connected bike grip that offers haptic feedback notifications and can easily be installed within standard bicycle handlebars. Used in conjunction with an iOS or Android app, the grip will tell you when to turn using vibrations.

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You can also get the bike to audibly ring if you have trouble finding it, and in case of theft, it’ll notify a crowd GPS network so that when another smrtGRiPS user comes within 100 feet of your missing bike, you’ll get the location. It’ll even have your phone call 911 automatically when a crash is detected.

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Another product, the Connected Cycle Smart Pedal, alerts cyclists when their bike has been moved via a mobile app. The app will also help you track your cycling activity with detailed statistics about how far you’ve ridden over a selected period of time, which routes you take and how many calories you’ve burned. The pedal fits onto any standard bike and made its debut at CES 2015.

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Wearable Cities: 15 Urban-Patterned Outfits & Accessories

15 Jan

[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

subway map tights main

Wear your love for your city on your sleeve – and your t-shirt, tote bag, necklace, cuff bracelet and bandanna. Aerial maps, transit maps, city skylines, notable architecture and even the abstracted colors of a certain neighborhood are printed onto all manner of urban wearables in this collection of city-themed clothes and accessories.

New York City Subway Map Tights

Display your love for your hometown as a relocated New Yorker with these Manhattan subway map tights, or be prepared for fellow transit riders to peer at your legs trying to figure out which stop to get off at if you decide to don them in the city.

Handscape City Rings

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Turn your fingers into a ‘handscape’ with these rings by Studio ZLDA, designed to be worn together to create a personal collection of buildings, trees and tiny figures.

Cityscape Clothes Valet

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Start your day off getting dressed next to this cityscape clothes valet by Andrea Brugnera for Formabilio, a simple geometric structure held together with small leather straps.

City Grid Dog Tags

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This dog tag IDs where you come from in a more abstract and visual way, with a cut-out of an urban grid pattern. The collection from A Minimal Studio includes over 120 major cities from 32 countries around the world, and can be used as a functional map.

Neighborhood Scarves

cityscape neighborhood scarves

The visuals of a particular spot are captured on video, stretched out and processed to create an abstracted motion of the place in visual form. The Brooklyn Block then prints this image on scarves so you can wear the colors and patterns of your favorite neighborhood.

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Wearable Cities 15 Urban Patterned Outfits Accessories

[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

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Driverless Living Space: Future Car Envisioned as Mobile Room

14 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

driverless car in city

Blending elements of rigorous automotive and interior design, this concept car may look like a streamlined vehicle but is more akin to a communal living room on wheels on the inside.

driverless car conversing commuitng

driverless car dash board

driverless car test model

Unveiled by Mercedes-Benz at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, features include swiveling seats for conversing and viewing, individual touchscreen displays and interactive gesture-based interfaces for driving and recreating alike.

driverless car sitting relaxing

driverless car seating interface

driverless car exterior view

The exterior presents as a classy and aerodynamic sports car with carbon fiber-reinforced plastic, aluminium and steel. Within, walnut, leather and glass make for a a likewise-luxurious but human-oriented set of materials and finishes.

driverless car interior view

driverless car doors open

Of the design and its direction, Dieter Zetsche notes that “Anyone who focuses solely on the technology has not yet grasped how autonomous driving will change our society. The car is growing beyond its role as a mere means of transport and will ultimately become a mobile living space.”

driverless car sleek look

futuristic driveress car design

The open question remains: how much will cars of the future even look like cars on the outside? As platooning and other hive-like concepts are further explored, we may find vehicles look far different down the line than we might imagine.

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Town in a Tower: 14-Floor Highrise Houses Whole Alaskan Hamlet

14 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

town tower copy

High-minded Modernists of the mid-1900s envisioned futuristic all-in-one cities in the sky where we would work, place, live and love, but would have been surprised to learn that their ideal has perhaps been mostly closely realized in the remote village of Whittier, Alaska, where virtually everything happens under one roof.

town in tower thumbnails

A fourteen-story structure known as Begich Towers, formerly an army barracks, is host to most of the town’s residents as well as its post office, grocery store, health clinic, laundromat and church. Writer Erin Sheehy and photographer Reed Young (montage shown above) visited and photographed this remote village, traveling sixty miles from Anchorage, Alaska and through a 2.5 mile, one-lane tunnel to get to there.

town buckner building exterior

This is a place of extremes, which helps explain why its occupants are happy to stay indoors as much as possible – average snowfalls of 250 inches (up to 400 inches some years) and glass-shattering winds make using underground tunnels a preferred means of getting to the few other buildings in town, including the local school. The other large structure in the area is the Buckner Building, abandoned but favored by youth who need to get out and go somewhere.

town abandoned buckner building

Le Corbusier’s Unite d’Habitation comes to mind, a Brutalist village-in-the-sky concept with alternating floors and complex sections designed to accommodate layers of living, working, shopping and recreating throughout. Ultimately its realization devolved into a typical apartment complex, but the external factors simply weren’t there to reinforce it as an internally self-sufficient community.

town glacier ice water

More from Young about the town year-round: “In the summertime Whittier is bustling. Seasonal workers come for jobs on fishing boats, charter boats, or in the cannery, and cruise ships bring hundreds of thousands of tourists to the harbor. But thriving harbor industries—freight, fishing, tourism—don’t seem to translate into growth for the city.”

town cruise ship port

Like a college town times a few thousand, with visitors far outnumbering actual residents – hundreds of thousand visit the area annually but most drop off for just part of a day then get back on their train or cruise ship and leave town again.

town in a tower

It is, in a way, a company town, but it can also be claustrophobic for those used to warmer climates and more private spaces. “The Alaska Railroad Corporation is the majority landowner in Whittier, but it doesn’t pay property taxes, and it employs few residents. A supply barge comes into town once a week, but most of the workers who unload the freight commute from Anchorage. Not everyone who tries to live in Begich Towers can take it—a newcomer from Florida compared it to jail—and there simply isn’t much space on which to build alternate housing” Aside from the four-image montage, additional images for this story by Travis, nate’sgirl, davidd, Frank Kovalchek, Ross Fowler and Brian Digital.

[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Dreamscapes: Handmade Fantasy Environments by JeeYoung Lee

13 Jan

[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

jeeyoung lee 1

One tiny 3-by-6-meter space has had dozens of different dreamlike incarnations as hand-crafted fantasy settings by Korean artist JeeYoung Lee. At times, it takes months for JeeYoung to transform her studio to match up with the image in her mind as she builds all of the elements, piece-by-piece, to create the surreal scene.

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Built like a set for a film or play, these temporary dream rooms are packed with handmade props created from paper, wood, cardboard and other materials. JeeYoung re-paints the studio, crafts and assembles all of the strange items she requires for each scene, and carefully sets them up for a single photographic result.

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The artist inserts herself into each image, not so much as a self-portrait but as an active participant – like a character in a story, or perhaps the dreamer of each strange dream. Not wanting to be a distraction from the spectacular settings, she typically turns her head away from the camera. Sometimes, she’s hard to spot among all of the chaos of the space.

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“Her creations act as a catharsis which allows her to accept social repression and frustrations,” explains her artist bio at Opion Gallery. “The moment required to set the stage gives her time to meditate about the causes of her interior conflicts and hence exorcise them; once experienced, they in turn become portents of hope.”

[ By Steph in Drawing & Digital. ]

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Transforming Tables: 16 Smart Space-Saving Surface Designs

13 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Space Saving Tables by Resource Furniture (animation)

In increasingly small urban apartments where every inch counts, a piece of furniture that transforms from a coffee table to a dining table in seconds, hides a lot of storage or folds up to just one inch thick can open up a lot of usable space. These transforming table designs completely rethink the simple surface, sometimes using complex engineering to expand and contract.

Coffee to Dinner Tables by Ozzio Design

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Anyone with a tiny studio apartment can appreciate the convenience of a piece of furniture that functions as a coffee table for most of the day, but raises up to dining level when needed. These two convertible tables by Ozzio look clean and modern, have adjustable heights and come in various colors and sizes for maximum adaptability.

Tree Ring Table Cuts Itself in Half

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A table that resembles the cross-section of a tree trunk when compact and placed against a wall opens up to become fully round, a third leg swinging to the side to offer support. Designer Isariya Boon took inspiration from onion rings to create this hardwood and steel table with multiple personalities.

Flip Table Hides Six Stools

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The wooden casing of the Flip coffee table opens up to become a three-sided dining table, the storage underneath transforming into six stools.

Kaleidoscopic Capstan Table Spins to Enlarge

transforming tables capstan

Is this the world’s most highly-engineered dining table? The Fletcher Capstan features six wedge-shaped leaves that pull back to reveal a star shape that grows as the table expands from about 6.5 feet across to a maximum width of 30 feet. The process of transforming it is almost like a performance as the table opens to show off its inner components.

The Daily Shelter: Table to Child’s Fort

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Only those who ‘know its secrets’ would ever guess that this ordinary-looking dining table by Ingrid Brandth doubles as a tiny house. Says the designer, “… it can be transformed into a shelter where one can hide from scary sounds, ghosts or family members. Just like a snail feels safe in its house.”

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Cool as Ice: 10 Years of Artist-Made Shanties on Frozen Lakes

Coke Machine Acts as a Secret Portal to Hidden Speakeasy

Celestial Cityscapes: Photographing Dubai from Above the Fog

Non-Stop Rail: 2 Future Trains Pick Up Passengers in Motion

Smart Bikes: Connected Parts Use GPS to Prevent Theft