Category: Creativity

Secular Conversion: Historic Chapel Turned Modern Library

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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 building without compromising its historic character. Italian architects DAP studio restored the traditional architectural features of the Oratory of San Michele before converting it for a new use with the sleek white extension.

The new two-story volume stands off to one side of the original structure, connected via stairways. The top part tapers inward to allow for the preservation of the chapel’s overhang. The new volume contains bathrooms, archives and technical systems, while the bright open spaces of the church hold the books.

Where one building is solid and opaque, the other is translucent, shimmering in the sunlight. The small volume connecting the chapel and the extension features a glazed roof to let in more sunlight without substantially altering the architecture of the historic structure.

This library is hardly alone in making creative use of old churches, monasteries and temples. Check out the incredibly grand ‘Waanders In de Broeren’ 15th-century Dominican church-turned-library, and many other religious-to-secular conversions.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

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 …
Click Here to Read More »»

Book Mountain: MVRDV Designs Glass Pyramid Library

A new public library in the Netherlands by MVRDV flouts the conventional wisdom of keeping books in the dark, placing them under a glass pyramid-shaped …
Click Here to Read More »»

Modern Religion: 13 Contemporary Churches & Chapels

Unlike the intricate spires and scrolls of traditional churches, these modern church designs focus on minimalism to enhance the beauty of natural light.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 22, 2013
Night Graffiti: Shake-Powered LED Spray Paint Can Sleeve

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

The nature of graffiti tends to result in nocturnal excursions, but painting completely in the dark can be a be problem and sometimes you just need a little bit of light.

LASH is a light attachment for spray cans designed by Subinay Malhotra of New Delhi, India to provide low-level illumination on demand to artists on the street.

The device slots onto the can and charges via a motion familiar to anyone who has sprayed paint, illicitly or otherwise: the shaking action one has to repeat to keep on painting.

The LEDs are intentionally dim and easy to turn both on and off at the push of a button, all so artists can see what they are doing on an as-needed basis but blend back into the shadows with a simple click.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Blanking Banksy: Artists & City Paint Over Pricey NYC Graffiti

Banksy is an artist with the rare power to make walls more valuable after he has vandalized them, which some then seek to alter or destroy and others fight …
Click Here to Read More »»

Wallpaper Paint Rollers: Cool & Classic Patterns, DIY Style

Wallpaper difficulties getting you down? These remarkable rollers can put patterns to paper, walls and fabrics, adding substantive decor to more than just mere …
Click Here to Read More »»

Confetti + Walls + Tape = Sticky Spray-Paint Alternative

What is infinitely more fun than spray-painting a wall? Throwing confetti, of course! This fun art exhibit lets spectators participate in the graffiti creation.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 22, 2013
Living Staircase: Spiral Stairs Wrapped in Organic Greenery

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

Boldly curved and cantilevered into midair, these plant-wrapped stairs are designed to provide more than just a means of moving from one floor to another.

Stepping onto them takes occupants temporarily away from concrete floors and columns, then into and through a unique miniature ecosystem of warm and living materials.

This staircase by Paul Cocksedge for the Ampersand building in London is punctuated by platforms overlooking a central atrium.

These circular areas act as impromptu self-contained break and gathering spaces removed from the bustle of each main office floor.

Standing out not just physically but also materially, the lively-grained wooden curves are bedecked with thin stem-like strands of white metal. In turn, these support planters that supplant the role of traditional hand rails while still providing physical and psychological safety and support.

Each set of stairs is supported by the floors themselves, thus rendered structurally independent of a more ordinary central-column approach.

Further interactivity is woven into the biological side of the design in the form of herbs that employees can nurture, grow and ultimately pluck from the rails, facilitating a sort of in-office garden and adding a bit of mint to their tea or spice to their lunch.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

15 Crazy Modern Stairs & Creative Staircase Designs

Some seriously extreme examples of staircases that go far beyond the basic, entering the realm of modern art.
Click Here to Read More »»

Stairs to Nowhere: 15 Works of Surreal Staircase Sculpture

You can’t take these floating modern art staircases to the next floor, but you can step back and admire them for their nonsensical beauty.
Click Here to Read More »»

Tread on Me: 15 Crafty Metal, Wood & Spiral Staircases

Stairs aren’t just a handy way to go between the levels of your home; they can be a pet project for inventive architects and a favorite feature of a home.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 21, 2013
Bounce House for Adults: Blow-Up Bubble Strung with Nets

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Admit it – you’re jealous of the little kids who get to romp in those inflatable bounce houses. Once we reach a certain age (or weight), we’re just not welcome in those primary-colored playgrounds any longer. But some lucky kids-at-heart got a chance to relive the fun of that experience with ‘Net Blow-Up,’ most recently installed near the waterfront in Yokohama by Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use.

The inflatable play structure looks like a big white bubble in its spot beside the water, glowing like a lantern once the sun goes down. Inside, it’s strung with multiple levels black netting that’s just stretch enough to climb, jump and flip to your heart’s desire.

Watching it from the outside might be almost as fun as bouncing around within it, as the soft-sided structure deforms and mutates with each movement of those inside. “The outer membrane acts both like a ‘soft box’ diffuser of the outside light, or a projection screen in case of inner illumination of the installation,” say the designers.

Inflatables are popular as temporary installations, since they’re so easy to install and take down. Plus, they tend to have a lighthearted, comical look. Two recent examples include the Bridge in Paris and the world’s first inflatable concert hall, the Ark Nova.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Blow-Up Buildings: 17 Inflatable Works of Mobile Architecture

Temporary – sometimes even transient – these 17 blow-up structures create enclosed event space where there was none, in public squares and gritty city corners.
Click Here to Read More »»

Blow-Up Building: Inflatable Concert Hall Tours Japan

A giant purple bubble will rise from a pile of plastic to bring music, workshops and performance to Japan’s northeastern coast, which was devastated by …
Click Here to Read More »»

Strung Along: Twine Guides Visitors Through Abandonments

Acting as a minimalist and silent tour guide, lengths of black yarn were carefully suspended to direct guests along a route through the broken walls of a …
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 21, 2013
14 Apps for Architects, Interior Designers & Homeowners

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

Need to quickly calculate square footage, design a building digitally using its real-world setting, match an exact shade or sketch out an idea? There are apps for all of those things, whether you’re a casual homeowner looking to redecorate your living room or a professional architect. This collection of tools for iOS and Android mobile devices gives you easy access to all sorts of functions, wherever you may go.

Paper

The Paper app by FiftyThree, Inc. makes it easy to capture your ideas as sketches, diagrams, illustrations or notes and share them on the internet. It’s a simple and intuitive app built specifically for the iPad’s display. The company recently announced the introduction of a ‘pencil’ stylus that connects to the iPad via Bluetooth.

Graphisoft BIMx

Available for both iOS and Android devices, BIMx is the ideal app for architects using the ArchiCAD program to present or share designs with clients and contractors.

MyPantone

Need mobile access to the entire Pantone catalog of colors? Check out myPANTONE, which includes over 13,000 Pantone colors and makes it easy to create and share color palettes.

Dream Home

Get inspired for interior design and home renovation projects with Dream Home HD, an app for iPHone and iPad that offers high-resolution photos in a wide range of design styles. Save your favorite images, share them with friends and upload your own.

Photosynth

The Photosynth app by Microsoft makes it easy to capture and share interactive panoramic images with not only left and right but also up and down, creating an entire sphere. That could be especially helpful when you’re assessing a building site or thinking about how to renovate or decorate an interior space.

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
14 Apps For Architects Interior Designers Homeowners

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Urban Apps: 13 Interactive City Maps, Tools & Guides

Chances are, even if you’re a lifelong resident of a particular city, you don’t know every nook and cranny, every food truck location, or the lore …
Click Here to Read More »»

The ABC of Architects: 26 Famous Buildings in 100 Seconds

26 architectural greats from the last 100 years have their works come to life in less than two minutes as animated iconic buildings in this well-worth-watching …
Click Here to Read More »»

Tagtool iPad App Lets You Paint Your City with Light

The entire city is your canvas with the Tagtool light painting iPad app, which lets you team up with friends and project your art and animations onto buildings.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 20, 2013
Nomadic Furniture: Backpack of Parts Creates Portable Seat

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

A wooden seat that needs to wood, glue or screws, but focusing on traditional construction techniques, this design is about the craft-oriented journeyman and not a comfort-driven destination.

Jorge Penadés of Spain emphasizes the act of construction and deconstruction with his Nomadic Chair, which slots together and back apart in two minutes. It utilizes bright metal connectors and tucks away into a simple leather sling for travel.

In both seating and backpack form it is built to stand out from the crowd. Critics will no doubt point out that it is not the most comfortable item to carry or even to sit in, but its assembly involves joinery methods that stress the process over the product. Someone looking for a camping chair is probably still best off buying one made of lightweight aluminum and seat-friendly fabric.

The work is an extension of his Nomadic Studio, a student thesis project proposing larger-scale dwellings employing similar techniques to enable portable and modular home construction.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Solar Socket: Portable Plug-In Creates Free Energy to Go

With batteries running low, your eye roams the room for a place to plug in, but then you remember: you brought your own power supply – all you need now is a …
Click Here to Read More »»

Room in a Box: 10 Pieces of Clever Transforming Furniture

From tetris tables to sofa beds on steroids, shelves that fold down into seats or that double as decor and much much more.
Click Here to Read More »»

Self Snuggling: 7 Super-Cozy Full Body-Wrapping Seats

Forget your chair-and-blank combination – with these ultra-warm wonders of domestic design, curling up with a good book has never seemed more enticing.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 20, 2013
Boneyard Studios: Vacant Lot Hosts New Micro-Home Village

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

In a bold bid to change urban landscapes, a series of tiny home builders and enthusiasts has come together to turn empty space into a microcosmic example of what small-space living can mean for dense and high-cost cities like Washington D.C.

Starting with a small, awkward and triangular alley lot the Boneyard Studios group proceeded to clear the debris build a series of four small homes. “The lot originally had overgrown grass, broken concrete, pooling water, garbage, illegal parking, and occasional criminal activity (e.g. a dumped stolen vehicle).”

Brian’s Minim House is clean, refined and modern featuring minimalist details, wood siding with black metal trim and a metal roof with solar panels. It also has interior features like in-seat storage and a pull-down screen for a space-saving projector television and video player.

Elaine’s Tumbleweed Lusby is framed and filled with warm wood, feeling as much like a cabin in the woods as it does a cottage in the city. It comes complete with a bamboo ladder leading up to a cozy lofted sleeping space.

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Boneyard Studios Vacant Lot Hosts New Micro Home Village

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Go Big or Home: Living Small in 11 Tiny Houses with Style

Tiny houses are growing in popularity because of increasing environmental consciousness and a desire to reject unnecessary material goods.
Click Here to Read More »»

Tinshed: Home Rebuilt from Shreds of Scrappy Shack

An ad hod affair, it was a rare leftover of what was once an industrial neighborhood, destined for demolition but instead rebuilt into a strange new home.
Click Here to Read More »»

Live Between Buildings: Narrow Micro-Homes Fill City Gaps

Playful yet thought-provoking, this project asks: what do we do with small leftover spaces in cities … particularly in urban areas where even a few …
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 19, 2013
Flowing Forms: Curved New Cultural Center by Zaha Hadid

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

Architect Zaha Hadid’s designs are graceful and sinuous, imbued with dance-like movement, and the new Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan is no exception. This landmark structure, which will host the former soviet nation’s cultural programs, swoops over itself in glossy white ribbons, looking as if it were stretched and pulled into place by human hands.

This malleability and the organic forms that inspired it forms a stark contrast to the traditional, historical Soviet architecture of the city of Baku. While not so well-known in the United States, this city stands at the forefront of architectural innovation as the Azerbaijan government spends an estimated $ 6 billion per year on new buildings. Other notable works of modern architecture in the city include the Flame Towers.

Hadid’s design is a modern interpretation of Islamic architecture as a composition of rows, grids, or sequences of columns that collectively form a non-hierarchal space. An architectural skin flows from the plaza up onto the roof of the first floor, and then rises several stories to form a shell-like canopy.

The clean, curving lines of the roof structure are already inviting passersby to ascend the roof, and it’s probably only a matter of time before skateboarders turn it into one big exhilarating playground.

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Harmony at the Guangzhou Opera House by Zaha Hadid

With a design inspired by two boulders on the bank of the Pearl River, the newly opened Guangzhou Opera House by Zaha Hadid is a glittering addition to the …
Click Here to Read More »»

Zaha Hadid’s Apartment Block Overlooking NYC High Line

A glittering glass apartment block with volumes flowing into each other in dynamic stacked arrangements will be architect Zaha Hadid’s first building in …
Click Here to Read More »»

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.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 19, 2013
Art Aflame: 14 Pyro-Centric Sculptures & Installations

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

The most mesmerizing of all the elements, fire is an intriguing and rewarding medium for artists who shape it, use it to transform their creations or create spectacular flaming visuals. These 14 works of art include fleeting ‘fire sculptures,’ charred human figures, portraits drawn in soot and even graffiti set ablaze.

Fire Sculptures by Rob Prideaux

Artist Rob Prideaux is on a “quest to shape one of the more uncontrollable phenomena [fire] in nature.” Bursts of flames, sometimes in specific shapes, are captured on camera against a stark white background in the series ‘Smoke & Fire.’

Burning Debt: P.I.G.S. by Claire Fontaine

Paris-based art collective Claire Fontaine makes a striking statement about the global economy with ‘P.I.G.S.,’ which refers to the acronym created by the media for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. A map of these nations made of matchsticks was set ablaze. The matchsticks allude to “the global socio-political instability that is the by-product of the recent financial downturn.’

Drawing with Fire: Steven Spazuk

These incredible photorealistic portraits are created in a highly unusual way: with soot. Artist Steven Spazuk exposes small squares of canvas to fire using a candle, gentle etching out details of a wall-sized drawing in the black markings left behind.

Graffiti on Fire by Ellis Gallagher

Not content to simply leave behind some paint on an urban surface, graffiti artist Ellis Gallagher sets his art on fire. The idea is to paint a tag and light it on fire quickly before it dries, taking advantage of the flammable nature of the paint.

Art with Water and Fire by Jeppe Hein

Fire and water come together in stunning sculptural installations by Danish artist Jeppe Hein. Two elements that are normally opposed form a beautiful juxtaposition in minimalist water fountains with flames burning at the top. Water dispersed with natural gas is pumped from a tank up to the top of the fountain, where the gas ignites.

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Art Aflame 14 Pyro Centric Sculptures Installations

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Flexible Paper Sculptures Bend Reality + Warp Perceptions

Li Hongbo’s sculptures look like fine ceramic at first, but they are far more layered than they appear. This talented artist excels in the unexpected.
Click Here to Read More »»

Sculptures Made of Straws by Sang Sik Hong

Korean artist Sang Sik Hong uses thousands of straws to create eerie, luminous relief sculptures of human body parts.
Click Here to Read More »»

3D-Sculpted Pictures: Innovative Photography Sculptures

Sculptures and photography often go hand-in-hand, but they’ve never been combined like this before. Korean artist Osang Gwon has created a whole new art form.
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 18, 2013
Sucking Smog: Electronic Vacuum Cleaner Clears City Skies

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

It sounds so preposterous and yet is sufficiently plausible that its designer is now talking to the mayor of Beijing about how to develop for urban use in this notoriously congested capital of China.

Daan Roosegaarde developed a system using buried coils of copper to create an ion electrostatic field that attracts smog particles, effectively magnetizing them and pulling them down. The result is sizable void of clean air above.

While it cannot yet work on a city-wide basis, the idea is to begin by clearing hundreds of feet of air in key public spaces like parks, squares and other paths trafficked by pedestrians.

They have already prototyped a device that can suck a square meter of polluted air from a larger interior space, effectively punching a hole in a simulated cloud of smog and collecting the resulting particles safely below.

The designer puts the problem and project in context: “We have created machines to enhance ourselves. We invented the wheel and cars to liberate ourselves and travel. But now these machines are striking back, making air polluted in high-density cities like Beijing.”

Their “young design firm based in the Netherlands and Shanghai, [which] has been working on intricate designs like a sustainable dance floor which generates electricity when you dance, and smart highways which produce their own light. Now [Daan Roosegaarde] and his team of engineers are creating a technology to clean the air of Asian cities.”

Want More? Click for Great Related Content on WebUrbanist:

Perfect Pitch: Impossibly Starry City Skies in Blackest Night

There is simply no way to see the starry skies above the typical urban metropolis – but one photographer has found a way to simulate the stunning potential …
Click Here to Read More »»

Self-Sufficient City: Zero-Waste, Carbon-Neutral & Car-Free

It sounds like a conceptual design or science-fiction fantasy, but it is already under construction. Rising in the desert outside of Abu Dhabi, Masdar City …
Click Here to Read More »»

Clear Skies Ahead: Quest for a Complete Global Aerial Atlas

If you have ever zoomed out in Google Maps (or Mapquest, Yahoo or Bing), you may have been surprised find your field of view relatively unclouded by inclement …
Click Here to Read More »»

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]

WebUrbanist

November 18, 2013