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Facial Reconstruction: Police Use Found DNA to Create Suspect Profiles

06 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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An art project launched four years ago illustrated how scraps of DNA found in public could be turned into eerily lifelike composite sketches and three-dimensional models — now the police appear to be taking that technology in new (and potentially disturbing) direction.

Heather Dewey-Hagborg collected strands of hair, discarded cigarettes, chewing gum and other found materials and worked them into hauntingly realistic masks as part of Stranger Visions in 2012. But her resulting sculptures were at best approximate — DNA can only tell you so much about what a person looks like. Such limitations are stopping law enforcement agencies, however, from pushing the limits of the technology.

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Companies like Parabon NanoLabs that specialize in DNA phenotyping, however, are working with the Department of Defense and other agencies to use similar approaches. Their Snapshot technology references databases that pair genetic information with physical traits. Agencies can thus send in DNA and get back a genetic profile or even a composite sketch.

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Used as a means of eliminating suspects from the pool or identifying remains, this technology could be fine. However, since it can’t tell weight, age and other features (even race can be ambiguous), it is also possible that such renderings would mislead investigators — or worse: influence trials in the wrong direction. Photo-realistic images and models have a way of skewing the perceptions of the observer — once seen they are hard to unsee.

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“Ancestry becomes a sort of short-cut term for race,” Dewey-Hagborg worries. “When it’s a person reading their own genealogical information, they’re going to look at that in light of what they know about their own personal history. But when it gets into the hands of the police, that all gets thrown out the window, because there is no self-knowing subject there.” Advocates of the technology point out that these is not how they intend it to be used — but still, in comparing it to data gathered from eyewitness accounts or surveillance cameras, they risk going in that direction anyway.

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More from the artist about Stranger Visions: she “creates portrait sculptures from analyses of genetic material collected in public places. Working with the traces strangers unwittingly leave behind, Dewey-Hagborg calls attention to the developing technology of forensic DNA phenotyping and the potential for a culture of biological surveillance. Designed as an exploratory project based on emerging science, the forecast of Stranger Visions has proved prescient.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Vanishing Points: Simple Architectural Drawing Hack Puts Art in Perspective

05 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Architectural drawings have long used geometrical tricks to convey scale, depth, distance and other three-dimensional aspects of realities on two-dimensional surfaces. In a two-vanishing-point drawing, the artist aligns their ruler with a point on one side or the other and draws a line along the edge (or employs another modular straight-edging tool).

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The same came be accomplished much more quickly, however, using this simple technique: pin a flexible string to both points along the horizon line and slide a hook along the center. The results will naturally be a bit less than precisely linear, but for many architectural artists a wavy line is typical or even desired (it gives the piece a less rigorously complete look).

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Of course, it will only work for a traditional two-point perspective – in cases where the artist wants to include a third vanishing point (for instance, to emphasize verticals in looking up at a skyscraper or create a fish-eye effect) a straight-edge is still required. That, or a free-handed approach based on a picture, presumably the basis of the drawing above.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Extreme Architecture: 15 Structures Built to Withstand the World’s Coldest Places

05 Jan

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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You might say that the kinds of built structures you find in either Antarctic research stations or the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth (located in Russia) are polar opposites: some are high-tech, capable of elevating themselves above the accumulating snow or departing to warmer climes via helicopter, while others are as humble as it gets. But people have learned how to survive in these harsh places, whether by keeping coal fires burning around the clock or burrowing into the earth for warmth, and even polar bears have some secrets to share with architects on surviving amidst all that ice.

Monte Rosa Hut, Switzerland

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This five-story wooden structure on Switzerland’s Corner Glacier by Bearth & Deplazes Architekten has an exterior look befitting its environment, making it seem morel like a research facility than an ‘alpine hut’ for adventurers.

Memu Meadows Experimental House, Hokkaido, Japan

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An experiment by architect Kengo Kuma, the translucent ‘Memu Meadows’ house was designed to test the limits of domestic architecture in extreme cold conditions. It’s a modern spin on the traditional homes of the indigenous Ainu, whose buildings used bamboo grass exteriors to hold in the heat of a central fireplace that remains burning all the time. Kuma’s version replaces grass with insulation and polycarbonate cladding but remains cheap and accessible, and allows the house to glow like a lantern after dark.

Halley VI, World’s First Mobile Research Station, Antarctica

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Ocean Waves Crashing on Seawall

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Halley VI by Hugh Broughton Architects stands up to some of the most extreme conditions on earth, serving as a mobile home base for Antarctic expeditions. It’s located on the floating Brunt Ice Shelf and can be transported on its ski-like feet, while hydraluic rams allow it to be raised above the snow as it accumulates. Seven interlinking blue modules offer offices, bedrooms, labs and energy plants while the central two-story red module contains social space for 16-32 crew members.

Arctic Adaptations: Concepts Reflecting Indigenous Canadian Traditions

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Canada commissioned Lateral Office to curate its Nunavut-inspired exhibition at the 2014 Venice Biennale, entitled ‘Arctic Adaptations: Nunavut at 15.’ The project proposes how architecture could improve the development of cohesive communities even as the environment and the world around them rapidly changes.

Trollstigen Tourist Route, Norway

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Set along the Trollstigen national tourist route in Norway, this visitor center and overlook by Reiulf Ramstad Architects gazes out onto a mountain pass that’s lush and green in the summer and formidably snowy in the winter. The overlook is particularly dramatic when the snow starts to accumulate.

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Extreme Architecture 15 Structures Built To Withstand The Worlds Coldest Places

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Baubotanik: German Botanical Architect Grows Buildings Out of Trees

04 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Taking arbosculpture to the next level, German designer Ferdinand Ludwig is working to build not just sculptures but bridges and buildings from living trees. Many of his designs will take years or even decades to fully unfold.

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His largest project yet in Nagold, Germany, was a multistory structure made up over over 100 trees slowly combined into a single organism, coaxed into place with a steel framework that will eventually be redundant. The lattice of interconnected tree trunks and branches ends up forming its own self-supporting truss system.

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The support beams are labeled with the years in which they can be removed, allowing the structure to stand on its own by 2028. Like a conventional curtain wall on an ordinary architectural facade, this system could be used to wrap other buildings as well.

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Even now, though, the slow-growing ‘building’ makes for a shady and cool space in the summer. Through each season, of course, it changes with the natural cycles of spring, summer, fall and winter.

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A pioneer of what he calls ‘Baubotanik’ (think: Bauhaus using botanical techniques), Ludwig’s living plant constructions were inspired in part by native tribes that grow living bridges out of trees over time.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Sci-Fi to Reality: Giant Manned Robot Method-2 Has Taken Its First Steps

03 Jan

[ By SA Rogers in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Looking and working remarkably like the robots in the 2009 movie Avatar, the 1.5-ton, 13-foot-tall ’METHOD-2’ by South Korean firm Hankook Mirae Technology has officially taken its first steps. Engineers and reporters watched the robot navigate the company’s facility on its massive mechanical legs, traversing about ten feet before reversing. It appears to be remote-controlled for this exercise, while previous videos have shown how it functions with a human ‘pilot’ sitting inside.

The idea is that METHOD-2 will be able to help people reach the kinds of hazardous destinations that are currently too unsafe to navigate, and it’s easy to imagine this thing walking down the street like a superhero after a disaster. It sounds like the company is currently working out the mechanics of the robot itself, and it’s unclear whether it’ll ultimately be able to climb over obstacles, negotiate uneven terrain or withstand harsh climates.

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Its first planned expedition is into the space between North and South Korea known as the DMZ (demilitarized zone), the world’s most dangerous border, but it’s still got about a year of planning and tinkering to get it into shape. Right now, it requires a tether for power. Its arms weigh 300 pounds each and are controlled by the pilot’s own limb movements.

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Unsurprisingly, the robot was designed by Vitaly Bulgarov, who previously worked on the Transformers films and helped design Boston Dynamics’ bipedal robots. Yang Jin-Ho, chairman of Hankook Mirae Technology, says the robot is still taking its ‘baby steps’ but ultimately aims to “bring to life what only seemed possible in movies and cartoons.”

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METHOD-2 is already getting lots of interest from companies who want to purchase one, and the price tag is expected to run around $ 8.3 million. The final version is expected to be ready for potential buyers by the end of 2017.

[ By SA Rogers in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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Modern Markings: 42 Bold Black & White Tattoo Designs

03 Jan

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Modern tattoos are less about sailors, pin-ups and ‘MOM’ and more about bold black lines, complex geometry, architecture, esoteric imagery, glitches and even blacking out entire body parts to cover up old work. These standout themes represent some of the most visually striking, imaginative and artistically challenging styles gaining popularity in recent years.

Black & White Snake Tattoos by Mirko Sara

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Alone, white ink isn’t the greatest choice for a tattoo, according to many artists: it looks splotchy and uneven on all but the clearest, most evenly pale skin, fades quickly, and has a tendency to disappear into a blurry mess within a short period of time. But if you’re willing to get it touched up often to maintain it, it can be really beautiful, and it sets off black ink beautifully. Take the work of artist Mirko Sata for example – whose most common subjects are intertwined snakes.

Blackout Tattoos

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What do you do when you’ve got a large number of old tattoos you want to get rid of? Laser surgery is an option for the removal of smaller tattoos, but some people get beyond that whole ‘permanent’ aspect of inking the skin in a different way. Blackout tattoos are growing increasingly popular, blocking out large areas of the body with solid swaths of black ink.

Though the lines from the old tattoo still tend to show through, and several painful sessions are often required, the look can be pretty incredible. Some people get blackout tattoos on virgin skin just for the dramatic effect. Tattooers working in this style include Chester Lee of Oddtattooer, Alex Arnautov, Simon Mora, Josh Stephens and Kenji Alucky.

White Ink Over Black Work

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Fresh white ink applied over healed blackwork can also be a fun way to cover up old mistakes, and the contrast is pretty incredible right after it’s applied. Subjects have to sit for as many as five sessions to go over the white ink to make it opaque enough to stand out, and it can take years to finish a single piece. Artists who have experimented with this process include Esther Garcia, Nathan Mould, Ruslan Batyrbaev and Wayne Fredrickson.

Architectural Designs

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Architecture can be a particularly striking tattoo theme, especially when it takes up large areas of the body. Artist Maxime Buchi of M-X-M has tattooed traditional Russian architecture across people’s backs, arms, legs and chests, and someone loved Haight Ashbury enough to get imagery of the famous San Francisco intersection inked onto their body by the tattoo studio of the same name. Dmitriy Tkach depicted a Victorian house with roots wrenched from the ground like a plant, while Wang Lei designed an intricately shaded classical church. Thieves of Tower, appropriately enough, often tattoos spindly towers onto their subjects.

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Modern Markings 42 Bold Black White Tattoo Designs

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Wash, Raise, Repeat: Vertical Top-Loading Dishwasher Saves Space

02 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

vertical-dishwasher

Dishwashers have become household items in many American homes but have changed little since their invention, leaving room for improvement (especially in cases where ‘room’ is an issue). Many of the small problems associated with the traditional design are not initially obvious until pointed out — we are simply too used to them.

Front-loading versions can take up considerable space while taking dishes in and out. We take for granted, for instance, that the loading and unloading processes often have to be dedicated, all-at-once tasks in kitchens where folded-down doors get in the way. Front-loader doors also represent a potential point of failure if their water seals are degraded or damaged.

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Designers Moshen Jafari Malek and Behzad Taheri have decided to take a top-down approach, developing a top-loading variant that addresses leaks as well as space issues. Putting the spray bar in the center also eliminates another problem with certain conventional designs: getting things equally clean on all racks and levels. The designers also note that a variable-height center shelf could allow more versatility in terms of including larger pots and pans. At the same time, the vertical design avoids messing with what works: porous wire-frame shelves and side containers for silverware. It makes you wonder: what other ordinary appliances are just waiting for a simple but powerful redesign?

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Wars Star: Street Art & Graffiti Tributes to Princess Leia

02 Jan

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

Star Wars character Princess Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher, has been feted in street art and graffiti for a long time in countries far, far away.

While spray-painted graffiti and, especially, stencils have been the most common methods of applying Princess Leia to urban infrastructure, there is another unlikely yet undeniably successful medium: tile mosaics. Since 1998 the secretive street artist known as Invader (after his Space Invaders-inspired style) has applied over a thousand 8-bit tile mosaics in over 30 nations around the world. His economical rendering of Princess Leia, as captured by Flickr user ratskaweiller, looks down from the wall of a building on Paris’ 6th arrondissement.

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Flickr user Aaron Kinzer (ascension9studios) captured this vivid triptych of Star Wars characters plastered to a wall in Melbourne, Australia. Yeah, we’d ALL need shades if everyone was really that pink.

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“Most of the characters I created before Lucasfilm and Sanrio lawyers came knocking at my door (no joke),” explains creator Dan Knispel of his Hello Wars character stickers.

Due to their conveniently adhesive nature, Hello Wars stickers have turned up on applicable surfaces ’round the globe. Flickr user Darth Admin captured several such appearances of the Princess Kitty character as shown above.

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The revival of the Star Wars film franchise with The Force Awakens in late 2015 sparked a corresponding explosion of relevant street art. You’ll find the expansive multi-artist mural above in Melbourne’, Australia’s graffiti mecca of Hosier Lane. Flickr users City of Melbourne – Official and sherlockedtxh snapped the images above on December 21st of 2015, shortly after the blockbuster film was released worldwide.

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

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Flat-Pack Bicycle Helmet: Portable Paper Head Protection for Cyclists

01 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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As urban cycling continues to increase in popularity, bike commuters still face the same challenge: carrying a clunky helmet with them wherever they go. For part-time, on-demand cyclists in places with bike share programs the problem is even more pronounced: hopping a ride is simply not a safe option unless they happen to have headgear handy.

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Hence the EcoHelmet by Isis Shiffer, a graduate of the Pratt Institute of Design in New York. Her collapsible helmet is designed to be low-cost (around $ 5) and easy to pack into vending machines paired with bike sharing stations.

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Recycled paper is woven into a folding honeycomb structure that is light, durable and portable, forming a protective cover in moments. A waterproof coating also protects the helmet from rainfall. Paper sounds like an implausible material, but the design has passed European safety reviews and is looking for approval in the United States. Still skeptical? The video below features some impressive impact tests — sure, the helmet may need to be replaced after an accident, but if it does the job in the moment that is what really matter.

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The low price tag presumably makes these cheap enough that riders won’t balk at buying one even for a single ride (though hopefully they would save and store them for future trips given how compact they are when folded up.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Vertigo Wallpaper: Warped 3D Room Illusions Transform Flat Gallery Surfaces

31 Dec

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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You could be forgiven for cautiously entering one of these rooms full of wavy sketched lines, stepping over obstacles that aren’t really there, uncertain whether parts of the walls are really projecting out toward you. Artist Peter Kogler creates spatial illusions that take over every surface of a gallery, turning it into a ‘virtual maze.’ A master of the large-scale print, he’s spent the last 30 years perfecting his techniques. The ones involving grids of lines pull off the most disorienting effects.

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Pictured here are installations from the last few years, including work displayed at the ING Art Center in Brussels this year, the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna in 2015 and the Galerie im Taxiplalais in 2014. His computer-generated works have even adorned the exterior walls of pavilions and museums, and often feature imagery of snakes, ants and pipes.

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According to his artist statement, “Kolger has been interested in new, innovative art practices, not only in the field of visual, but also in performative arts, sound and music. He continued his work by shifting the boundaries of artistic expression and developed a very impressive, emotionally and artistically convincing world, whose layered meanings open communication paths to the widest public.”

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“After several years of research at the beginning of his artistic career, in painting, performance and experimental film, since 1984 Kogler has used computer technology. Heralding the future development of computer-generated art already in the ‘60s, in the spirit of that positivist-optimistic time, Michael Noll wrote: ‘The computer is an active medium the artist can interact with at a new level, liberated from many physical limitations of all former media. The artistic possibilities of this kind of creative medium as the artist’s helping device are truly exciting and challenging.”

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Facial Reconstruction: Police Use Found DNA to Create Suspect Profiles

Vanishing Points: Simple Architectural Drawing Hack Puts Art in Perspective

Extreme Architecture: 15 Structures Built to Withstand the World’s Coldest Places

Monte Rosa Hut, Switzerland

Memu Meadows Experimental House, Hokkaido, Japan

Halley VI, World’s First Mobile Research Station, Antarctica

Arctic Adaptations: Concepts Reflecting Indigenous Canadian Traditions

Trollstigen Tourist Route, Norway

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Extreme Architecture 15 Structures Built To Withstand The Worlds Coldest Places

Baubotanik: German Botanical Architect Grows Buildings Out of Trees

Sci-Fi to Reality: Giant Manned Robot Method-2 Has Taken Its First Steps

Modern Markings: 42 Bold Black & White Tattoo Designs

Black & White Snake Tattoos by Mirko Sara

Blackout Tattoos

White Ink Over Black Work

Architectural Designs

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Modern Markings 42 Bold Black White Tattoo Designs

Wash, Raise, Repeat: Vertical Top-Loading Dishwasher Saves Space

Wars Star: Street Art & Graffiti Tributes to Princess Leia

Maid in the Shades

Hello Princess

Graffiti Wars

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Wars Star Street Art Graffiti Tributes To Princess Leia

Flat-Pack Bicycle Helmet: Portable Paper Head Protection for Cyclists

Vertigo Wallpaper: Warped 3D Room Illusions Transform Flat Gallery Surfaces

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Monte Rosa Hut, Switzerland

Memu Meadows Experimental House, Hokkaido, Japan

Halley VI, World’s First Mobile Research Station, Antarctica

Arctic Adaptations: Concepts Reflecting Indigenous Canadian Traditions

Trollstigen Tourist Route, Norway

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Extreme Architecture 15 Structures Built To Withstand The Worlds Coldest Places

Black & White Snake Tattoos by Mirko Sara

Blackout Tattoos

White Ink Over Black Work

Architectural Designs

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Modern Markings 42 Bold Black White Tattoo Designs

Maid in the Shades

Hello Princess

Graffiti Wars

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Wars Star Street Art Graffiti Tributes To Princess Leia

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Extreme Architecture 15 Structures Built To Withstand The Worlds Coldest Places

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Modern Markings 42 Bold Black White Tattoo Designs

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Wars Star Street Art Graffiti Tributes To Princess Leia