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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Paint it Black: 16 Mysterious Houses That Have Joined the Dark Side

20 Oct

[ By SA Rogers in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Most people can be divided into two pretty clear-cut categories: those who think black houses are creepy in a bad way, and those who love them for all their mysterious allure. Victorian houses in San Francisco, famously witchy mansions in Salem, modern homes in Japan and gingerbread houses in the woods of New York all get cool points when they’re painted top-to-bottom in shades of coal and pitch, though one abandoned black house in North Carolina looks legitimately scary in its dark disarray.

Black Ocean Firehouse, New York

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The black paint on this facade of a former New York City firehouse highlights all of the ornate neo-gothic architectural details, modernizing the 1890s structure for its new life as the headquarters for Black Ocean, a digital media company.

Haus in Schwarz, Germany

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This house in Germany wasn’t painted pitch black all over until after it was condemned, as a sort of tribute before it was demolished, and that’s kind of a shame. It looks way cooler than its similarly-shaped neighbors on the same street. At night, it virtually disappears into the sky.

Shingle House by NORD

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Located on the shingle beach of Dungeness, one of England’s most unique landscapes, this home by NORD stands out from a sea of fisherman’s huts with its pitch paint and tarred black roof. It’s available for rent as part of Living Architecture, a project offering vacations in striking works of modern architecture.

Abandoned Black House in North Carolina

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Unlike the other houses on this list, which simply don harmless black exteriors, this home on a peak in mountainous Western North Carolina is truly creepy. Located on Howard’s Knob in Boone, the home known as “The Cult House” has been abandoned for many years since its owners were went to prison, and has deteriorated after being broken into, vandalized and used as a party house. Once a million dollar home, it’s now peeling and crumbling.

Black-Fronted Residence for Park Place, London

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In London, SHH Architects won permission to convert a 1960s office into a home with a black facade. The original seven-story building was demolished and replaced with black brick, a double-story Oriel bay window with a decorative metalwork screen, and polished granite window frames.

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Paint It Black 16 Houses That Have Joined The Dark Side

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Yoga Joes: G.I. Action Figures Posed in Complex Meditative Positions

18 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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G.I. Joe and other toy soldier figures are rarely found in anything but anxiety-prone positions, ready to do battle with the imaginary enemy. But in this quirky collection, they tackle a fresh foe: difficult and sophisticated yoga positions.

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These posed characters can be found doing downward-facing dogs, lotus headstands and scorpions but also more complex positions like firefly, scorpion, peacock, side plank and king pigeon.

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Started in 2014 by artist Dan Abramson, the collection has grown to include ever more sophisticated poses and postures which, in many cases, require more work for the figurines’ creator in making their molds. The pieces are sold in themed collections, ready to be used as toys or staged in nature for funky photo shoots.

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“My hope is that advanced Yoga Joes inspire beginners to reach for the stars or, at the very least, to reach for their foot backward over their head” says Abramson. “I hope they inspire seasoned yoga masters to expand their own practice by showing off next to them on Instagram. But whatever your skill level, I truly hope they inspire calm and focus, and hopefully more than a few smiles and laughs.”

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Just a Reflector: Upside-Down Mural Looks Right in the Water Below

18 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Designed to look right-side-up when reflected off the water below, this series wall murals features a series of nautical themes, including depictions of swimmers, rowers and swans. While the image above is accurate and untouched, a modified photo (shown below) shows a more idealized version that does not really reflect reality.

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New York-based Ray Bartkus made this mural for the Lithuanian city of Marijampole, set alongside the river Šešupe, which flows through the city’s center. The artist is known for other works that rely on mirrors and reflections as well.

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A bit like a trompe l’oeil illusion, the viewer’s position changes the composition, and their is an ideal spot for the optical effect in relation to the various vertical planes onto which the murals were painted.

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Well Wheeled: 12 Luxury Bike Accessories for the Discerning Cyclist

18 Oct

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Ride your bike in style with crocheted skirt guards, leather beer carriers, hand-carved saddles and picnic sets that cost more than your car. These luxurious bicycle accessories will make sure you’re ready for drinks at the park or a fashion shoot with Vogue while also outfitted in top-of-the-line practical gear worthy of even the most serious cyclists.

DIY Built-In Bike Bar

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This DIY mini bar is built right into the unused section of a bike’s frame, packed full of coasters, cups, bar tools and mixers with a lid that folds down to become a tiny triangular table. It’s a pretty clever idea for picnics – just don’t drink and bike. Want one of your own? You’ll have to make it yourself, since it’s so particular to the individual shape of your bicycle.

Leather Growler & Six Pack Carriers

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If beer is more your (bike) speed, there are options for that, too – like a fancy lather carrier that holds either a six-pack or an entire growler and mounts to your saddle or frame. The full-grain leather growler coozie by Cicada Leather Company fits most 64-ounce glass growlers, and Walnut Studio’s ‘Bicycle Beer Combo’ comes with a ‘frame cinch’ design, which can be used to carry anything with a handle on the top tube of your bike.

Crocheted Skirt Guard

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Why sacrifice your fashion sense while biking? Not only does this crocheted add-on make your bike look fancy, it enables you to wear skirts and dresses without worrying about them getting caught in your spokes. Made by Knits for Life, it comes in two sizes and snaps onto the fender with included clips.

World’s Most Expensive Bicycle Saddle

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If you can’t afford the whole Fendi shebang, but still want to drop a giant wad of cash on your ride, replace your saddle with one of three designs by Crown Saddles – the Graf Ludwig, the Konig Friedrich or the Herzog Eberhart. The priciest saddles in the world, with the Herzog boasting a price tag of €1554 Euros (around $ 1700 USD), the saddles are made of lightweight carbon fiber and Kevlar Rowling with airbrush finishing.

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Bike Life 12 Luxurious Accessories For The Discerning Cyclist

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Reconnecting Atlanta: Elevated Park to Bridge a City Divided by Highways

17 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Connecting fragmented sections of a divided metropolis, this new elevated park will help stitch together downtown Atlanta while providing fresh public green space in the heart of the city. The raised park will ultimately span nearly a half mile across the center of the city, tying into existing parks, paths and trails.

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Like many American cities, a mid-century rush to facilitate car traffic ended up leaving a legacy of disconnection in Atlanta. The downtown core is wrapped in high-speed roadways and bisected by busy streets, which the Buckhead Park seeks to overcome with a strategy similar to that of Freeway Park in Seattle.

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The park is divided into a series of different areas with varying amenities, which in turn will also help with staging the construction (much like the segmented Highline in New York City, built in iterative steps).

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The northern portion features a commons with an amphitheater. The southern section boasts a lush garden space. In the middle, a plaza is designed to serve area retail and restaurants. Native plants will be irrigated with collected storm water reclamation systems, helping provide shelter from the hot Georgia sun.

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Designers from Rogers Partners and Nelson Byrd Waltz aim to bring coherence to the disparate areas of downtown, allowing safe and easy options for pedestrians. Their project will also connect to Park 400, a cycling and jogging trail currently in the works. The project’s creators also hope their work will inspire other cities to think about ways to reconnect divided downtowns.

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Odd Glory: A Salute To Offbeat American Flag Art

16 Oct

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

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America‘s stars & stripes flag evokes different feelings in different people, such as artists whose creative expression is displayed via Old Glory.

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Visual artist Dave Cole created “Memorial Flag” from roughly 18,000 plastic toy soldiers and lots of red, white and blue paint. The work was displayed at the 21c Museum in Durham, NC in 2005, where it was given a place of honor as the first artwork visitors to the museum would encounter.

Too Big To FAILE

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This striking zig-zag flag was painted by street-art collaborative FAILE for the Underbelly Project, held at an abandoned Brooklyn subway station in the summer of 2010. FAILE was one of 103 street artists from all over the world who participated in the unusual art exhibition – unusual because it was (a) illegal and (b) closed the very same night it opened because of (a).

“More Barn!”

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Call it a case of advertising patriotism: a billboard in Wingdale (Dutchess County), New York now serves as a huge, unmoving flag made from painted wood slats and hundreds of round drawer knobs. Someone somewhere is having a LOT of trouble getting dressed in the morning.

Islamerica

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“Prayer Rug for America” by Arab-American artist Helen Zughaib is on display at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture. The work is “an Islamic prayer rug fashioned with the colors and the stripes of the United States flag,” explains Associate Curator Asantewa Boakyewa, “and her interpretation or take on it is really that this is a painting for healing.”

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Odd Glory A Salute To Offbeat American Flag Art

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Book-Shaped Pavilion in Korea Celebrates Historic Birthplace of Printing

16 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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In 1377, nearly a century before the famous Gutenberg Bible was printed in Germany, the Jikji anthology was made using movable metal type, then bound and and protected for centuries to come.

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A new installation outside the Cheongju Art Centre in South Korea celebrates this historic achievement, acting as a shelter for public performances in the open plaza.

It also hints at a larger exhibit inside: an array of architecture, art, design and digital media that traces the history and impact of movable type on literacy and publishing.

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The pavilion itself, folded and stitched together with red twine, forms a canopy that mimics the properties of an open book “being pushed down onto a flat surface,” explains its creator Ron Arad. The thickness increases where the pages fan out, and the metal binding of the structure is derived from a traditional spine.”

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The Jikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose title can be translated “Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings.” It collects teachings of Buddhism passed down for generations.

Printed during the Goryeo Dynasty in 1377, it is the world’s oldest extant book printed with movable metal type. Prior printing techniques in China used ceramics to print volumes, but none of those works survive.

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While other versions survive thanks to wood engravings in temples, only the final volume of the metal-printed Jikji is preserved by the Manuscrits Orientaux department of the National Library of France. The process used to create the anthology was only rediscovered in the early 1900s in the West.

Johannes Gutenberg, meanwhile, was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony—and these materials remained standard for 550 years as printing evolved in Europe.

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Horror House: Real Estate Listing Instantly Infamous for ‘Terrifying’ Decor

15 Oct

[ By SA Rogers in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Had Buffalo Bill escaped Clarice Starling and moved into a quaint suburban Connecticut home, his interior decor might have looked a little something like this. At 24 Brentwood Drive, an absolutely amazing color palette in shades of dried blood, glistening internal organs and Exorcist vomit green adorns every available surface in the form of hand-painted designs. And the best part is – all of this could be yours for just $ 339,900.

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Believe it or not, this is an actual real estate listing on Zillow.com, described by listing agent Ernie Rossi as a “unique one of a kind finishing completed by a professional!” The agents provide a full 51-photo tour on the site, showing off room after room filled with decoupaged stair rails, musty-looking floral curtains, decorative stamped paint in rust red and squiggly designs in shiny copper.

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Naturally, the listing went viral on social media upon discovery, with people describing the interiors as “serial killer chic,” “deranged” and “a portal to hell.” The real estate agents told The National Post that the sellers are artists, and remain optimistic that someone out there will fall in love with their designs. The home has only had one interested party in thirty days online, however.

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Who knows – maybe it’s actually some kind of viral horror marketing for a horror movie or a Halloween attraction, given that it’s mid-October and the house is located near the ominously named Mount Horr and Secret Lake – but there are elements of the home that feel earnest. Check out the full listing to decide for yourself.

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Night Riding: Glowing Blue Bike Trail in Poland Powered by Solar Energy

14 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Charged during the day and lighting up at night, this beautiful bicycle trail outside the town of Lidzbark Warmiski is designed to improve safety for riders out after dark.

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Luminescent phosphor can hold emit light of various colors, but blue was selected to match the surrounding landscape and conjure associations with the sky (the source of the path’s power). Once deployed, the passive system recharges itself, obviating the need for connectivity or continual maintenance.

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Though the technologies behind the effects differ, the path in Poland was inspired in part by the Starry Night bike path created in the Netherlands by Studio Roosegaarde. Both are proofs of concept, tests meant in part to demonstrate the potential and durability of this trail-blazing lighting strategy.

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Other illumination options were considered, but this glow-in-the-dark approach was deemed both appealing and cost-effective by the Board of Regional Roads. Adjacent pedestrian paths are also bracketed by glowing blue lines and denoted for persons on foot with likewise-illuminated path signage underfoot.

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Heavenly Vaults: Virtual Reality Ceiling Installation in a Gothic Cathedral

13 Oct

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

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The ceilings of Paris’ Saint Eustache Church are once again alive and flickering with a surreal display of abstract imagery as artist Miguel Chevalier projects ‘Voûtes Célestes’ onto its vaults, nave and transepts. Installed for the annual Nuit Blanche (All-Nighter) event, the live light show flashes, ripples and glows along to musical improvisations by the church’s organist, envisioning imaginary sky charts created by Chevalier in real time.

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Blankets of stars and other celestial bodies glimmer in the dark, transected by neon lines in green, red and yellow that crackle light lightning and ripple as if being blown by wind. The lights interact with the architecture of the church, blurring its actual form and creating trompe l’oeil effects. At times, the entire ceiling seems to disappear, putting on display an imaginary sky full of colorful lights.

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“These suspended universes accentuate one’s impression of the monument’s loftiness and lightness,” says Chevalier. “Visitors are invited to stroll around, to sit in the pews, and to lift up their eyes toward the heavens. These digital constellation of pixels immerse visitors in an atmosphere bathed in light while opening unto infinity.”

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“The installation releases radiant energy into this space of plentitude. Amplified by Saint Eustache’s organ music, the installation induces a spiritual and contemplative feeling of elevation. Light, color and movement create a poetics of matter and elaborate a new aesthetics of virtuality.”

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