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Fossilized Retreat: Log Cabin Remnants Recast in Concrete

19 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

concrete cabin cast shell

Using the existing logs from a previous cabin structure as formwork, this retreat manages to retain the scale and textures of its predecessor in a dramatically modern new building.

concrete cast remnant detail

Nickish Sano Walder Architects sought to preserve elements of this Graubünden, Switzerland holiday home, leaving visible the voids left by rounded horizontal wood walls, circular depressions of crossbeams and infilled chimney sticking out the top. Those familiar with the work of Rachael Whiteread may recognize this radical approach previously applied in an artistic context.

concrete cabin snow context

A description from the designers: “From a distance Refugi Lieptgas looks like a traditional wooden hut. Taking a closer look you will actually find that this cabin is made of concrete. The old barn that stood here previously characterises the appearance of the new building. By using the logs of the block construction as a formwork for the concrete a fossilized version of the old barn has been created. An unusual holiday home for two people – both romantic and modern.”

concrete cabin wood door

On the exterior, the only piece of wood visible is a newly-installed front door which serves as a stark contrast to its cement-colored surroundings. Inside, light wood trim is set against gray interior concrete and exterior stone.

concrete stone interior bath

concrete cabin modern interior

concrete stone shape design

Love it or hate the new incarnation, the previous structure literally left its impression on this replacement, all without leaving a physical trace in the form of its actual materials. Alas, the former life of the building is less visible on the inside – a missed architectural opportunity, perhaps.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Reflections from Above: Mirrored Skyscraper Illusion Photos

18 Jul

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

Reflections from Above Skyscraper Photos 1

Illuminated cityscapes multiply and divide in unexpected ways when their nighttime reflections hit the mirrored facades of the skyscrapers found within them. Photographer Donna Dotan, known for her vivid and meticulously composed architectural shots, came across her project ‘Reflections from Above’ by accident while shooting an apartment for sale at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City.

Reflections from Above Skyscraper Photography 3

Holding her camera outside the window to snap a photo, Dotan captured not just the city below, but also its reflection against the building itself.

Reflections from Above Skyscraper Photography 2

Reflections from Above Skyscraper Photography 4

The results play into Dotan’s fascination with symmetry and highlight certain aspects of each scene, whether the frenetic energy of the busy streets or the comparative tranquility of the deserted rooftops.

Reflections from Above Skyscraper Photography 5

According to Dotan’s bio, her interest in the built environment began as a child when her family spent summers in Israel, the architecture speaking to her “in an intimate way.” She believes her success as a young photographer comes from “her unique ability to see spaces from the eye of a camera.”

Reflections from Above Skyscraper Photography 6

The ‘Reflections from Above’ series has only just begun – keep an eye on Dotan’s website for more.

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Head Light: Popup Wall Lamp Has Horns that Glow in Shadows

18 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

light and dark headlight

A classy alternative to hanging animal parts, this deer head wall lamp started as a design concept, went viral as a prototype and has just been funded for full production via a successful crowdfunding campaign.

popup lighting design

owl lamp pop up

peacock lamp pop up

This particular popup lighting design is the first in a series of pieces that combine abstracted animals (including an owl and a peacock) and minimalist home lighting design – a sort of modern (and less morbid) take on faux taxidermy.

popup dear head light

deer head light pair

pop up light night

Chen Bikovski is a Tel Aviv-based designer exploring the relation of light and space. “Since I was a child, I was fascinated by Pop-up books…The excitement before turning a page, a simple pull that uncovers a whole new world. I loved how the story came to life, how the books created a fantasy world that flew off the page. The magic, the excitement, the naiveté…”

dear head light design

pop up lighting

dear head light in room

Named ‘Promising Young Designer of 2012,’ Chen’s work is presented in prominent galleries and featured in leading design publications. “The idea behind Popup Lighting was to create a permanent light fixture that would bring a magical ambiance to any space. A multi-dimensional light that would inspire the senses and ignite the imagination.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Casa Futebol: Design to Deploy Housing in World Cup Stadiums

17 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

converted football casa design

Imagine converting the circumferential spaces of sports stadiums into a plug-and-play system of modular residential units, leaving their open centers for use as open sports surfaces, green spaces or even mixed-use recreational, commercial and institutional purposes.

converted box office seats

converted stadium fifa cup

Architects Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux, the minds behind this radical design concept, note that the world’s most biggest football competition, set this year in Brazil, has left a series a freshly made and refurbished arenas in its wake.

google

Some of these World Cup creations will continue to be used for sporting and other events but others that may be demolished could be better suited to another purpose, turned into hybrid urban complexes.

converted adaptive reuse concept

From 1Week1Project: “Casa Futebol proposes a reappropriation of the stadiums renovated or built for the World Cup using modules of housing. It is not a question of denying the interest of Brazilians people for the soccer” but of also suggesting an “alternative in the face of a [housing deficit].”

converted exterior facade residences

In effect, the seating and box offices would be joined with domestic functionality, the degree of transformation and adaptation depending on the other usage still anticipated for the existing structures. Residences would face outward to enjoy views of their environments and could take advantage of existing amenities and circulation built into the surrounding structure.

converted residential detail closeup

“It is thus a question of replacing a part of the sets by prefabricated housing and of colonizing the outside facade. Casa Futebol proposes a human scale in these disproportionate constructions.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Retro-Modern Radio Ball Rolls its Way to the Next Station

17 Jul

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Radioball 1

Remember when searching for a good radio station was a process of discovery, slowly turning a knob to hear snippets of music or talk making its way through the static? The anticipation was part of the experience, not knowing just what you might hear as you made your way around the dial. A fun concept called the Radioball brings back that feeling with an interactive three-dimensional design marrying retro and modern technologies. You simply roll the ball to change the station.

Radioball 2

“Thinking back to the days of old analog radios, the magic of finding unexpected stations in the midst of fuzz was both enchanting and evocative,” says designer Ben Collette. “Compare that with today’s digital-based interactions of screens and tact switches; they give us exactly what we want when we want it, but leave no room to stumble onto alternative choices. The radioball prototype was built as a starting point for conversation about the need for richer, more spatial interactions.”

Radioball 3

A lightweight, 3D-printed urethane mesh forms a honeycombed ball shape, which is then fitted with electronic components like speakers. The sections of the ball and the components are held together using magnets, and the design team is playing with various colors and levels of transparency for the outer mesh.

Radioball 4

For version 2.0, Collette added a digital gyroscope to the control board so that a slow twist on any facet turns the volume up or down. It’s also got a larger battery and an easily accessible mini-USB slot for recharging the device.

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Stay on the Go: 13 Stackable, Movable Modular Hotel Designs

17 Jul

[ By Steph in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

Modular Hotels Main

These hotel rooms can be stacked on top of each other, swapped out for easy renovation and easily transported from one place to the next thanks to their modular design. From a shipping container hotel to floating hotel with detachable boat-like rooms, the 13 designs featured here are anything but stale and static.

Modular Bamboo Hotel

Modular Hotel Bamboo 1

Using cheap and highly renewable bamboo as a sort of scaffolding, the ‘One with the Birds’ modular hotel concept by Penda stacks pyramid-shaped volumes high into the sky while barely making a mark on the ground below. The low-impact, tent-themed hotels would be easy and quick to reproduce and expand as necessary. Inspired by Native American tipis, the structures use X-shaped bamboo joints to hold horizontal bamboo rods in place, which support the flooring. Joints would be tied together with rope so the whole structure can be disassembled and reused in other projects.

Bayside Marina Hotel

Modular Hotels Bayside Marina 2

Long, narrow two-story prefabricated cottages based on the form of the shipping container are grouped together along the seaside of Yokohama as the ‘Bayside Marina Hotel.’ The containers are staggered along the site to give each residence a different view. The units are fabricated in Thailand and transported to Japan, where they’re assembled on-site.

Botel Floating Hotel with Detachable Rooms

Modular Hotels Botel 2

Ever wish you could detach your hotel room from the main building and move it somewhere else? With ‘Botel,’ not only can you do that, your hotel room is actually a boat. The concept by Ivan Filipovic enables guests to explore their surroundings autonomously while retaining access to all of the amenities provided by the core structure. Dock at the main part of the hotel to have dinner or go to a nightclub, or enjoy a little privacy in a separate area of the bay.

Shelf Hotel: Swappable Modules in a Frame

Modular Hotels Shelf 2

What if hotel rooms of various sizes, shapes and levels of luxury could simply be swapped out like objects on a shelf? The Shelf Hotel by 3Gatti, envisioned for Xian, China, sets little removable modules within a framework raised above ground level to preserve green space below. The modules would consist of hotels as well as homes and offices.

CitizenM Hotels
Modular Hotels Citizen M 1

Modular Hotels Citizen M 2

Now open in various cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Glasgow and London (pictured), CitizenM hotels provide affordable luxury by fitting compact yet comfortable rooms within a simple frame for an industrial, urban appearance. The shipping container-like rooms are stacked on top of each other like LEGOs and contain a king size bed, pod-like toilet, shower and sink as well as lighting and other functions controlled via iPad.

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Stay On The Go 13 Stackable Movable Modular Hotels

[ By Steph in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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Lightning Fixture: Domesticated Cloud to Hang in Your Home

16 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

hanging cloude animated

A simple but provocative piece of dynamic home decor, this thundering cloud can be set to react to its environment, picking up cues from the weather or turning stormy on demand.

Designed and sold by Richard Clarkson, The Cloud is interactive light(n)ing piece made not just to look a thundercloud but also to create multicolored lights and generate customizable sounds. It can be set to automatic modes or manually operated by remote control to simulate different natural and synthetic effects.

home lightning cloud closeup

hanging thundercloud home lighting

From its creator: “The Cloud is an interactive lamp and speaker system, designed to mimic a thundercloud in both appearance and entertainment. Using motion sensors the cloud detects a user’s presence and creates a unique lightning and thunder show dictated by their movement.”

thunder-cloud-detail

smart cloud design

“The system features a powerful speaker system from which the user can stream music via any Bluetooth compatible device. Using color-changing lights the cloud is able to adapt to the desired lighting color and brightness. The cloud also has alternative modes such as a nightlight and music reactive mode.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Permanent Parklets: São Paulo Turns Street Parking to Parks

16 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

parklet drawing design detail

In a bold bid to change its urban landscape for good, Brazil’s biggest city has given a green light to citizen proposals to transform car parking spots into perpetual park spaces.

sao paulo permanent parklet

sao paulo mini park

Cities around the world have sanctioned micro-parks on a limited basis (often for temporary use during environmental days and green festivals), but this legislation makes the provision a permanent mandate for São Paulo.

parklet simple axon drawing

parklet construction guide diagrams

sao paulo tiny parks

The law comes with style and usage guides but a broad mandate, allowing for a potentially huge variety of programmatic functions starting with but not limited to open seating and leisure space.

parklet multi use spaces

sao paulo parklet example

Other possibilities include: small commercial vendors under tents or in shipping containers, public pools and restrooms, recycling receptacle centers and bike sharing racks. The argument, in part, is that the public gains a great deal of additional benefit from open space, which can be shared, over parking spaces that are used only by a few individuals at a time (and even then indirectly).

parklet space infographic images

Suzi Bolognese of SB Design Studio summarizes the shift: “The parklets programme fits in perfectly with São Paulo’s attempts to promote a friendlier pedestrian environment, and involves replacing a parking space or two with a new public area. Parklets can incorporate benches, chairs, tables, trees, and bike racks for the public to use and enjoy. São Paulo has loved parklets so much it has integrated them into city planning policy. Now as a result of Decree No. 55,405, São Paulo has rules for the creation and maintenance of parklets, the first Latin American public policy on the issue.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Tramboarding: Hacked Wooden Pallet Slides Down Rail Tracks

15 Jul

[ By Steph in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

Tramboarding 1

Four wheels fixed onto an ordinary wood pallet have transformed it into a skateboard of sorts that can slide down tram tracks in Bratislava, Slovakia. The rails in the city happen to be just the right width to fit a standard Europallet perfectly, turning the humble warehouse staple into a personal vehicle.

Tramboarding 4

Tramboarding 5

While the streetcar systems of many cities run on wider ‘broad gauge’ tracks, Bratislava is among those with a one-meter width. Other cities where the pallet tram hack would work include Antwerp, Basel, Belgrade, Bern, Frankfurt, Helsinki and Zurich. Watch it in action at Vimeo.

Tramboarding 3

Tramboarding 2

Slovakian artist Tomas Moravec says of his project, “A new transport vehicle brings change into the spatial perspective of a passenger in motion and generally changes the life of the city, through which the pallet can run, guided by a map of the city lines.”

Tramboarding 6

Where pallets were once used just a couple times and then thrown away, now they’re reclaimed for all sorts of projects, often requiring very little modification. Check out 13 DIY pallet projects for porch swings, home theaters and garden trellises, as well as 19 more clever pallet creations.

[ By Steph in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

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Taken by the TSA: 13 Strange Items Confiscated at Airports

14 Jul

[ By Steph in Culture & History & Travel. ]

TSA Confiscated items main

If you think you can smuggle a sword cleverly concealed inside a cane, a lipstick that’s actually a taser, pigeons wrapped in newspaper or nylon bags full of snakes onto an airplane, think again. The Transportation Security Administration has truly seen and confiscated it all, as documented on both their blog and their Instagram. Here are 13 of the weirdest and most disturbing items that the TSA has discovered during the security screening process.

Snakes on a Plane

TSA Confiscated Snakes on a Plane

TSA screeners monitoring a body scanner at the Miami International Airport in 2011 were puzzled by what looked like bulbous growths attached to a man’s legs. Pulling him aside, they discovered that the man’s pants were full of snakes and tortoises wrapped in nylon bags. Had they not caught him, he would have walked onto the plane with seven snakes and three tortoises, likely bound for the illegal pet trade.

A Chastity Belt

TSA Confiscated Chastity Belt

Says the TSA of this unusual discovery, “And while it isn’t prohibited, a passenger wearing a chastity belt alarmed the body scanner at one of our checkpoints. I’m sure you can imagine where an undergarment such as this might be a problem at a security checkpoint. Especially if there is no key.”

Daggers Disguised as Hairbrushes & Combs

Do some quick internet browsing and you can find knives and other weapons disguised as all sorts of clever things. That doesn’t mean you should try to take them on a flight. Screeners don’t take it lightly when they find hairbrushes, combs and other everyday items concealing potentially deadly daggers.

Mickey Mouse Full of Guns

TSA Confiscated Mickey Mouse Guns

Would it ever occur to you that a stuffed Mickey Mouse clutched in someone’s arms was filled with firearms? Maybe that depends on who’s holding it. Mickey is just one of many stuffed animals that have been used to smuggle guns and ammunition at the airport.

A Bag of Eels & A Whole Lot of Fish

TSA Confiscated Bag of Eels

Referring to the incident as a “nomadic aquarium for people on the go,” the TSA pulled aside a passenger who was attempting to transport 163 tropical fish, 12 ‘red sliders,’ 22 invertebrates, 24 live coral species, 8 pieces of Scleactinina with mushroom polyps and 8 pieces of soft coral from Miami to Maracaibo. “We’re not in the business of looking for marine life, but you can probably imagine how odd this looked on our monitor.”

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Fossilized Retreat: Log Cabin Remnants Recast in Concrete

Reflections from Above: Mirrored Skyscraper Illusion Photos

Casa Futebol: Design to Deploy Housing in World Cup Stadiums

Retro-Modern Radio Ball Rolls its Way to the Next Station