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Street Smart: Intelligent Motion-Activated Outdoor Lighting

05 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

motion activated urban lights

While we are all familiar with motion-detection technology in controlled indoor environments, the technology problem is much more complex when you add stray animals, wind-blown trees, weather-strewn debris and other dynamic variables into the mix.

motion outdoor light sensors

This high-tech solution designed and developed by Tvilight involves eight sensors and includes recognition software that can distinguish people and cars from other environmental factors that would trigger normal detectors.

Recognition information is relayed between the various independent light posts to account for the trajectory and velocity of pedestrians and automobiles, allowing both reaction and anticipation. Fine-tuned control options allow off-hours intersections to have the lights turned down by 30%, and mostly-empty areas like parking lots to be dimmed up to 70%.

motion illumination public space

motion sensing street lamps

The statistics are staggering – cities, states and countries could save up to 50% on maintenance costs and 80% on energy by illuminating streets on an as-needed basis rather than continuously. In Europe, 40% of government energy spending is on street lighting, so cutting down the cost and pollution of lights can have an incredible impact.

motion pedestrian street experience

Engineer and entrepreneur Chintan Shah’s company developed this dynamic system such that it can be applied to street lamps of all kinds, both new and old, in various places – sensors can be added to existing lights with traditional or LED bulbs. Already active in Holland and Ireland, Tvilight is looking to expand into the German, Canada and the United States.

[ By WebUrbanist in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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We Are Nature: Stunning Combinations of Nature + Humans

04 Jan

[ By Delana in Art & Photography & Video. ]

we are nature volume iii

Photographer Christoffer Relander combines nature and human faces to create preternaturally beautiful portraits. The double and triple exposures blend aspects of the natural world and the grace of the human form.

humans plus nature photography

nature superimposed on humans

More than a few artists have compared the grace of nature and the beauty of humanity, but Relander’s interpretations imagine a world in which we, the animals, are as delicate and fragile as nature.

double exposures nature and humans

nature and human form

Many of the artist’s portraits add an extra dimension to the humanity of the subject. There are others, however, that all but erase the human portion of the composition. Leaves, branches and blossoms take the part of skin, veins and muscles.

graceful combinations of humans and nature

nature photography and human form

The truly amazing part of Relander’s work is that he doesn’t use Photoshop to create these masterpieces of multiple exposures. He creates them all in-camera using a Nikon DSLR.

[ By Delana in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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SkyCycle: London Concept Takes Biking to New Heights

04 Jan

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

SkyCycle London Bike Route 1

London could become much more bike-friendly with SkyCycle, an elevated route for bicycles only that runs along the existing rail network and would enable commuters to see the city in a new way. Never mind sitting in your vehicle inhaling exhaust while you’re stuck in traffic, or battling the perpetual jam of vehicles on your bike, which has proven to be a dangerous proposition. 14 cyclists died in traffic accidents in London in 2013 alone.

SkyCycle London Bike Route 4

Designed by Foster + Partners in collaboration with Exterior Architecture and Space Syntax, SkyCycle is a 136-mile route with over 200 entrance points that can accommodate 12,000 cyclists per hour. The fact that the route follows the train system is actually ideal, since the railway lines were built for steam trains and follow contours that avoid steep ups and downs.

SkyCycle London Bike Route 3

The route could speed up treks across the city by up to half an hour by avoiding traffic and taking more direct lines from one busy area to another. If approved, the routes could be in place within 20 years or so.

SkyCycle London Bike Route 2

The High Line in New York City, an elevated pedestrian route built along disused railroad tracks, is a great example of what can happen when a project like this is integrated into a busy city. Not only is the High Line a popular route for foot traffic, it also helped revitalize large swaths of industrial land that wasn’t living up to its potential.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Fresh Spin: Rounded Space-Saving Clothes Drying Rack

03 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

space saver interior design

Hanging clothes out to dry is a design problem with a long history and many solutions, making it all the more rare to see something like this clever star-shaped approach that addresses the issue with such adeptness.

space interior clothes horse

In some Asian or European regions with more temperate climates, people string their clothes outside to dry, taking maximum advantage of warmth and airflow. Apartment and condo dwellers in colder places often have fewer options – Aaron Dunkerton of Queensland, Australia, but graduate of Kingston University, in the colder United Kingdom, can relate to both sets of conditions.

space unfolding clothes rack

The clever twelve-pointed-star design allows for maximum air circulation and hanging area with a minimum footprint when the drying rack is folded up and stored. A compact collection of aluminum rods strung between plywood supports are unfolded and latched to form an essentially circular shape with space in the middle – all part of a low-tech spin cycle that takes up less space in your closet, too.

space saving drying rack

space circular rack side

More about this unconventional clotheshorse: “The dimensions of my clothes horse are 56cm long, 32 wide and 23cm high when it is collapsed so it is much easier to store than a conventional clothes airer which are normally awkward sizes and hard to hide when not in use. When in use its dimensions are 56cm deep, 112cm wide and 112cm tall. The shape of my clothes horse when erect allows for good air circulation around the clothes, which will help them to dry faster.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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High Security: 150 Creepy Cameras Installed on 1 Blank Wall

03 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

If you ever get that feeling you are being watched, well, for once it really is just your imagination – this fleet of surveillance cams is inactive but still startling to anyone caught by surprise. All they are missing is some George Orwell birthday party hats.

Street artist SpY, known for large and thought-provoking interventions, really lives up to his nom de plume in this installation set alongside a side street in Madrid, Spain.

Catching passers by off their guard, the neatly-arranged series features one hundred and fifty security cameras all pointed in roughly the same direction, all causing a cumulative sense of distinct unease that is only slightly irrational upon reflection.

While the prop cams are both inactive in practice and redundant in theory (since they all appear to be looking at the same spot), the effect of feeling watched by many eyes is still disproportionately unsettling.

The construction process was painstaking, involving a crane and the manual attachment and alignment of each camera along a carefully-planned grid.

Aside from their uniform focus, the consistent color and style of each unit adds another level of discomfort to the mix, like a marching army of emotionless robotic agents in some dystopian science fiction film.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Pixelated Masterpieces: 3 Classic Paintings in LEGO Form

02 Jan

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

Classic Paintings Legos 1

Chances are, you recognize these images, even though they’re simply arrangements of a few dozen colored LEGO bricks. Squint your eyes, and three of the world’s most famous masterpieces come into hazy pixelated focus, your memory filling in the details that can’t be rendered in this form.

Classic Paintings Legos 2

Italian designer Marco Soldano interpreted two works by Leonardo da Vinci and one by Johannes Vermeer using official LEGO blocks. “All the children are authentic artists with LEGO,” he says.

Classic Paintings Legos 3

The works, of course, are (from top to bottom) the Mona Lisa, The Girl with a Pearl Earring and Lady with an Ermine. Subtle variations in tone suggest the highlights and shadows, the folds of fabric, the mountain landscape, even the subtle twist of the third subject’s posture.

Classic Paintings Legos 4

LEGO bricks continue to be a favorite medium for designers, who have used them to recreate everything from a 500,000-piece working water-powered hot rod to the entire borough of Brooklyn. See 20 more works of LEGO art (including another LEGO Mona Lisa.)

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Cold Comfort: 7 Abandoned Wonders of Scandinavia

02 Jan

[ By Steph in 7 Wonders Series & Global. ]

Abandoned Scandinavia Main

A Russian ghost town on a Norwegian island in the Arctic, decaying modernist houses in Sweden and woodland homes taken over by wildlife in Finland are among the abandoned treasures of Scandinavia. Left behind but not forgotten, these structures stand as reminders of a past now lost, whether due to the changing public view of prison-like mental institutions, the end of the Cold War or the invention of new technology that made old ways obsolete.

Pyramiden, Norway’s Abandoned Russian Settlement

Abandoned Scandinavia Pyramiden 2

Abandoned Scandinavia Pyramiden 1

Abandoned Scandinavia Pyramiden 3

A Russian ghost town at the end of the world, Pyramiden is a coal mining community on the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway. It was founded in 1910 by the Swedish and sold to the Soviets in 1927, and was once home to 1,000 people. The town consists of just a handful of buildings and some mining equipment, and has been entirely abandoned since 1998, though in 2007 construction began on a hotel that enables guests traveling to the island to stay overnight. The last ton of coal extracted from the mine sits behind a spire-shaped monument bearing the settlement’s name. The buildings remain as they were when left behind, and because of the low rate of decay in the freezing Arctic climate, they’re expected to remain visible 500 years from now.

Modernist Houses, Sweden

Abandoned Scandinavia Modernist House 1

Abandoned Scandinavia Modernist House 2

Abandoned Scandinavia Modernist House 3

This glass-walled home was the epitome of Swedish modernity in the 1960s, designed by architect Bruno Mathsson and once full of the sleek midcentury modern furniture for which he remains most famous. Mathsson designed this home and two others like it as ideal showcases for the fitness-obsessed, nature-centered nudist lifestyle, but the homes were abandoned at some point and have been empty for decades. Photographer Mikael Olsson has spent the last decade visiting and documenting two of the houses, revealing their descent into disrepair.

Abandoned Houses Taken Over by Animals, Finland

Abandoned Scandinavia Animal House 1

Abandoned Scandinavia Animal House 2

Abandoned Scandinavia Animal House 3

This group of homes in the Finnish woods may have been abandoned by people, but they provide a safe haven for a wide array of wildlife. Photographer Kai Fagerström discovered the houses near his family’s summer home in Salo, left behind after their inhabitants passed away or relocated. Inside, he has documented raccoons, squirrels, skunks, foxes, owls and many other creatures making themselves comfortable.

Murmansk Ghost Ship, Norway

Abandoned Scandinavia Murmansk Ship 1

Rusting in the waters just off the coast of the Norwegian village of Sørvaer after running aground, a Russian cruiser waited nearly twenty years to be rescued. The Murmansk was commissioned in 1955 and remained in service until 1994, when it was sold to India for scrap, but it never made it to its intended destination, partially sinking into the sea. The process of retrieving it was complicated by the possible presence of radioactive substances aboard the ship, the rough seas and the extreme climate of the area. In 2009, funds were raised to build a dry dock to start the process of dismantling it. The wreckage actually looks much smaller than it really is – those waters are hiding the vast majority of the ship.

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Cold Comfort 7 Abandoned Wonders Of Scandinavia

[ By Steph in 7 Wonders Series & Global. ]

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Top 40 of the Year: Essential 2013 Article List for Urbanists

01 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

urbanist 2013 year montage

As any experienced urbanist can tell you, city life is rarely dull and this year has proven no exception – from traffic-topping articles to staff-picked stories, here are WebUrbanist’s must-read highlights of 2013. Skim below and skip ahead as desired, but be sure to click the blue links inline along the way for full article access. Share your favorites with family and friends … and thank you, as always, for reading!

urbanist secret water tower

Starting with the world of architectural anomalies of the West, a London skyscraper became a global sensation when its curved glass surface began starting fires in neighboring structures. Many readers were also amazed to discover faux facades hiding everything from train tunnels to power stations in plain sight in cities including New York, Toronto and Paris. Speaking of NYC and secrets, don’t forget this temporary abandoned water tower-turned-speakeasy on a Brooklyn rooftop.

urbanist east architecture update

Meanwhile, in the East, we witnessed a Tokyo company add a top-down twist to building demolition in Japan. Nearby China, in turn, presented designs for an incredible car-free city whilst simultaneously making the news for an array of deserted urban endeavors, including a surreal smaller-scale replica of Paris.

urbanist space sea technology

In the realm of futurism and fantasy, this year included a Russian space hotel design and artists making floor plans from famous American television shows. But fact can be stranger than fiction, as many commented on how much this dark tower in South Africa resembled the setting of a dystopian film. And in a bid to push urbanism beyond the borders of continents and countries altogether, one entrepreneur floated the idea of an entire high-tech offshore city. In turn, IKEA is also stretching the boundaries of architectural interventions with its portable $ 1000 flat-pack refugee shelter.

urbanist abandoned wonders series

Our ongoing 7 Wonders Series is a long-standing fan favorite and well worth browsing for travelers and urban explorers. Many of these collections showcased abandoned places around the world, including top-secret buildings and underwater wonders; some were classed by broad type, including military, residential, commercial and industrial architecture, while others were organized by region, like Antarctica and New Zealand. Still others were even more specific, including sets of abandoned ski resorts, swimming pools, bookmobiles and unfinished nuclear power plants.

urbanist interiors rooms furniture

Shifting back to contemporary creations and cutting-edge design, we have seen some great innovations when it comes to modular rooms and convertible furniture, including an apartment where everything its occupant needs is hidden in floors, walls and ceilings. For those with a bit more space (and money) and an eye for luxury, there are also secret in-floor swimming pools that hide right under your feet – perhaps a reasonable place to deploy your fold-up suitcase kayak, too. Almost everyone, it would seem, loves a helpful space-saving design or a mysterious secret room, hidden passage or trap door.

urbanist art technology graffiti

In the arts, we saw everything from invisible-ink graffiti and hyper-realistic artworks to the world’s most-vandalized landmarks and ancient Greek statues turned into modern-day hipsters. In technology, we looked back at idiotic inventions from times past and forward to futuristic materials that actually exist today. And at the increasingly interesting intersection of art and technology, we found graffiti artists tagging low-tech cellophane as well as the most powerful man-made tornado in a museum.

WebUrbanist has managed a few milestones itself this year, with over 10 million visitors in 2013 alone (60 million+ total to date) and over 20,000,000 article views, also breaking a single-day record with nearly 500,000 pages viewed in one 24-hour period this fall. The site has topped 10,000 followers on Twitter and is nearing 50,000 fans on Facebook; those with a preference for Google+ can now add WebUrbanist to your circles there as well. We are (as always) working on some new directions and innovations of our own, with more surprises to come in the new year. Meanwhile, it may sound cliche but it bears repeating: you readers, fans and friends of the site who share our articles and support our team … you make all of this possible, and you have our sincerest thanks and best wishes for 2014.

[ By WebUrbanist in Culture & Cuisine & Global. ]

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Pointing Nowhere: Mysterious Arrows in Remote Places

31 Dec

[ By Steph in Global & Travel & Places. ]

Mysterious Concrete Arrows Airmail 1

The remains of large concrete arrows can be found in patches of dirt and grass across the United States from New York to San Francisco. Many locals have wondered what they’re for, seemingly pointing nowhere at all and often located in fairly remote places. They were installed in the 1920s, each accompanied by a fifty-foot tower and a tiny hut, and became obsolete within a decade.

Mysterious Concrete Arrows Airmail 2

So what were they for? Getting mail delivered in the time period just after the birth of the airplane, but before the wide use of radar and radio communications. The arrows helped guide airmail pilots at night, when flights would otherwise be grounded due to inability to properly navigate. The ability to deliver mail by plane represented a huge step in the evolution of U.S. mail delivery, vastly speeding up a system that had previously relied on stagecoach lines.

Mysterious Concrete Arrows Airmail 3

Mysterious Concrete Arrows Airmail 4

The system used fifty-foot beacon towers with rotating lights placed on top of concrete foundations shaped like arrows, usually between 50-70 feet in length. A small hut offered a place to stay for the people who maintained the generators and lights. The beacons were only visible from a distance of about 10 miles.

Mysterious Concrete Arrows Airmail 5

By the end of the first year of the program, the airmail service had 18 terminal airfields and more than 500 beacon lights in operation along the main mail delivery route, and continued to expand throughout the 1920s. But by 1933, new technology and the high cost of operation during the depression shut the program down. The towers were disassembled for their steel during World War II. A few have been preserved, like the one pictured above at the Western New Mexico Aviation Heritage Museum.

Mysterious Concrete Arrows Airmail 6

While many of the arrows have since been lost to development, those further afield still offer a (sometimes mystifying) glimpse of the past. The blog Sometimes Interesting has compiled a list with map links to arrows that still remain in New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and other states.

[ By Steph in Global & Travel & Places. ]

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Virtual & Reality: 15 New York City Data Visualizations

31 Dec

[ By Steph in Design & Graphics & Branding. ]

NYC Infographics Main

Data is much easier for most of us to process when it’s presented in visual form, and these 15 infographics and visualizations give us a (literal) picture of New York City that would be hard to come by otherwise. Exploring things like income inequality, building age, how the city has evolved and what its most popular hot spots are, these maps and charts illuminate the city in new ways.

Inequality and New York’s Subway

NYC Infographic Subway Inequality

New York City’s inequality problem is even clearer when viewed by subway line, as this interactive infographic from The New Yorker illustrates. Using data on median household income from the U.S. Census Bureau, it allows you to see the areas where earnings range from abject poverty to sky-high wealth.

Building Age, NYC

NYC Infographics Building Age

Where are the city’s oldest buildings? You could read a list of them, but seeing them laid out visually on a map makes them easier to spot. See the ages of one million New York buildings mapped in vivid colors, zooming in and exploring by neighborhood, at BDON.org.

10,000 NYC-Based Tweet Locations

NYC Infographics Tweet Locations

Ten thousand New York City-based tweets are laid out on top of a map in this interesting data visualization. The creator, Eric Fischer, asks “Is this the structure of New York City?” Perhaps it’s really just bored people in subways and cabs taking a moment to tell the world what they ate for lunch.

Growth of Manhattan Island, 1650-1980

NYC Infographic Growth of Manhattan

It’s easy to forget that much of Manhattan Island (and the rest of New York City) used to be a marsh. The borders of the island were much further inland way back in 1650 when the first settlement was founded. By 1980, they had extended by a good 1,000 feet.

Manhattan Past, Present and Future

NYC Infographic Past Present

Here’s another visualization that shows the drastic changes in the island from the way it was when European settlers first arrived to how it looks today. The composite image shows the left side of the island as it was 400 years ago and the modern-day city on the right. How will it change in another 400 years?

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Virtual Reality 15 New York City Data Visualizations

[ By Steph in Design & Graphics & Branding. ]

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360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Street Smart: Intelligent Motion-Activated Outdoor Lighting

We Are Nature: Stunning Combinations of Nature + Humans

SkyCycle: London Concept Takes Biking to New Heights

Fresh Spin: Rounded Space-Saving Clothes Drying Rack

High Security: 150 Creepy Cameras Installed on 1 Blank Wall

Pixelated Masterpieces: 3 Classic Paintings in LEGO Form