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Double-Helix Bridge Design for Beijing Based on Abstracted Olympic Symbol

23 Jul

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

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The Olympic symbol consisting of five interlinked circles is stretched out and rotated until the links create a three-dimensional double helix formation in this bridge design, which is scheduled to become reality in Beijing in time for the Olympic Winter Games in 2022. China has already made it clear that it’s willing to go big when it comes to Olympic architecture, filling Beijing with a series of massive structures for the 2008 Summer Olympics, and it aims to make its next turn hosting just as memorable. The San Shan Bridge (3 Mountains Bridge) by architecture firm Penda will connect Beijing with the city of Zhangjiakou, where most of the outdoor events for the Games will take place.

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Spanning China’s Gui River, the San Shan Bridge is supported by the double-helix structure made up of three sets of undulating steel arches that cross above and below the road surface, dipping into the water. The deck is suspended from the higher arches using high-strength steel cables in a woven pattern. Four vehicular lanes are edged with greenery, which separates the cars from pedestrian paths on either side. Using up to 5 times less steel than a conventional box girder bridge, the design is slim and lightweight in appearance despite its big visual impact.

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The region surrounding the bridge is a popular recreation spot for locals and tourists alike, with booming growth leading to a need for more infrastructure. The bridge will not only provide a crucial (and highly memorable) artery from the city to the Olympic events, it’ll be a central component of the Beijing Expansion Masterplan. Nearly 1500 feet long, the bridge will take a few years to construct, but should be done by the time the Beijing Horticultural Expo 2019 rolls around.

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

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Tiny in Dubai: New Miniature Art Installations by Slinkachu

21 Jul

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

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Last time we caught up with miniaturist Slinkachu, the UK-based artist had placed his little people on the streets of Paris, and now he’s brought his signature blink-and-you’ll-miss-them scenes to the United Arab Emirates. Tailoring each tiny tableau to the setting, Slinkachu has captured a series of humorous moments full of ostentatious wealth, surveillance, camels, tourists doing stupid things and other elements that are quintessentially Dubai.

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The new series of 10 miniature installations appeared on the streets as part of Dubai Walls, the first outdoor urban art show in the UAE. Slinkachu, “abandoning little people in the streets since 2006,” is one of sixteen artists participating in the event, which also features Etam Cru, ROA and Eine.

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Slinkachu customizes miniature figurines, hand-paints them and then creates little scenes in public places, often right on the sidewalk in plain view of passersby. They end up becoming temporary art, often swept up almost immediately and thrown away, or taken by people who want to keep them for themselves. Since these were created specifically for an art fair, they likely had a longer run in the streets than usual.

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“The ‘Little People Project’ started in 2006,” says the artist. “It involves the remodeling and painting of miniature model train set characters, which I then place, photograph and leave on the street. It is both a street art installation project and a photography project. The street-based side of my work plays with the notion of surprise and I am to encourage city-dwellers to be more aware of their surroundings.”

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“The scenes I set up, more evident through the photography and the titles I give these scenes, aim to reflect the loneliness and melancholy of living in a big city, almost being lost and overwhelmed. But underneath this, there is always some humor. I want people to be able to sympathize with the tiny people in my works.”

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

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Tunnel Visions: 15 All-Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

20 Jul

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Few art experiences short of virtual reality are quite as immersive as entering a tunnel, literally surrounding yourself with an artist’s vision, blocking out nearly all sensory input not related to the installation. You’re temporarily transported to a dimension that’s not quite real, often unsure where the tunnel might take you. These 15 tunnel-based art installations offer explorable landscapes, inviting you to walk or even crawl through structures made of light, yarn, tape, salvaged wood and textiles.

LED Light Installation in Wellington by Angus Muir

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A permanent LED light installation inside a Wellington tram tunnel forms a shimmering, shifting series of arches that blink and change colors. The Wellington Car Cable Company commissioned artist Angus Muir to create the kaleidoscopic landscape of light,

The Pixels Crossing in Paris by Miguel Chevalier

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French artist Miguel Chevalier created a temporary tunnel connecting the Forum des Halles and the Place Carée in Paris, with shimmering, multicolored scenes moving in synch with a wave pattern of sound, giving commuters an otherworldly experience as they walked along the transit route.

‘Terminus’ Ribbon Tunnel in Georgia by Megan Mosholder

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Placed in the grass outside Atlanta’s Hambidge Center of Creative Arts and Sciences, ‘Terminus’ by Megan Mosholder offers a visual representation of the city’s potential if only they solved their transportation problems. The installation consists of ribbons strung along a frame, and light projected onto them to resemble a blurred train passing through a station at night.

‘Tunel’ by Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti

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Any visitor stepping inside this interactive kinetic sculpture by Brazilian artistic duo Cantoni-Crescenti watched the architecture of the tunnel shift and transform in response to their own body weight and movement. 92 metal frames are individually controlled by a series of springs and cables, linked in a chain, so that your weight might cause the floor to incline or a section of the walls to rotate toward you.

Tube in Tirol by Numen/For Use

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Crawl around in a series of net tubes suspended high up off a gallery floor at this installation by Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/For Use. ‘Tube’ is a maze of rope tunnels that mostly lead to dead ends, snaking up through an atrium and into the second level of Austria’s Architekturforum Tirol gallery.

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Tunnel Visions 15 All Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Pokédrone Go: Micro-Drone Augments Reach for Pokémon Players

20 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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Pokémon Go has hit the ground running, breaking game release records and getting people out of the house and onto city streets. This new drone promises to take the game even further, allowing aerial access to hard-to-reach spots. Designed by TRNDlabs, the Pokédrone lets users slot their smartphone into a controller, then steer the small drone to the target location, extending reach in real life.

The tiny four-prop toy addresses a persistent problem with game: sometimes the spots players need to get to (or at least: get a phone-connected camera to) IRL are located above water or in the middle of roads, either hard or dangerous to reach. Its creators promise it will make the tagline of the game a reality and let you “catch ’em all.”

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This design solution release comes amidst an onslaught of press around the game, from stories of player-related accidents and muggings to uplifting tales of people getting out and meeting strangers on the streets.

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Relying on data from Ingress, the Pokémon game is still a work in progress, but supplemental projects like the drone above may prove helpful in fixing its problems and filling in its gaps.

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It is hard to say whether Pokémon-as-such will retain its popularity over time, but so far it seems to have broken down the wall between console gaming, mobile games and urban exploration. As such, it is opening a (virtual, real and metaphorical) door for similar interactive technologies aiming to gain ground.

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Who knows, maybe the next iteration of the game (Poké-Man Joe?) will let users seek out other players and digitally “capture” them by conversing or swapping data, a kind of meta-Pokémon as it were aimed at generating not just urban but human interaction.

Meanwhile, the game is already helping people rediscover their civic surroundings, getting them to engage with architecture, parks, plazas, monuments and memorials in new and compelling ways (at least when they glance up from their screens).

[ By WebUrbanist in Gaming & Computing & Technology. ]

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Dystopian Textile: Beirut Architect Builds Bulletproof Headscarf

19 Jul

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Somewhere between disturbing practical and abysmally pessimistic, this gender-neutral, anti-ballistic headscarf draws on a long history of regional fashion traditions but with a depressingly contemporary twist: it is constructed from Kevlar.

Salim al-Kadi seems ambivalent on the question of the whether this accessory is practical or political, but he put serious effort into making it work, regardless. The K29 Keffiyeh 001 was made from para-aramid synthetic fiber, of the kind used in body armor including bulletproof vests.

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The architect brought the Kevlar to a Palestinian refugee living in Lebanon and had her weave in a traditional pattern without compromising the bullet-resisting efficacy of the material. Of course, a shot to the head, cloth or no, is certain to be damaging if not deadly, regardless of whether the bullet is stopped.

Historically, keffiyeh have been worn around the Middle East as a way for men (and women) to gain protection from sun and sand. It is wrapped in different ways depending on the place, but does not stand out, a sort of hidden-in-plain-sight statement about the state of war and tension in the region.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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The Brave New World of Robotic Pizza Delivery is Almost Here

19 Jul

[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

robot food delivery

Thus far, the 21st century has been pretty disappointing for those of us who grew up expecting flying cars, teleportation devices and recreational trips to the moon by the time we were adults. While there were some things sci-fi films like Back to the Future got right – including video calls, flat-screen televisions, wearable technology and biometrics – nobody short of a billionaire villain type actually has a robotic butler that can bring them food at the push of a button. But if you live in London, you will soon be able to access the next best thing: dinner delivery via a six-wheeled droid.

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Starship Technologies, which is run by two Skype co-founders, is partnering with London food delivery startups Just Eat and Pronto to send what essentially look like wheeled coolers through the streets, dropping off meals to customers within a 2-3 mile radius. Tests will also be carried out in Dusseldorf, Germany, and in Starship’s home city of Tallinn, Estonia. This is on top of 5,000 miles of previous testing in places like Glastonbury, where the bots have “met over 400,000 people without a single accident,” but this is the first time they’ll be delivering food to actual paying customers. Starship is expected to announce rollouts in the U.S. in the coming months.

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Is it really the next best thing to a robot butler, though? The first question that pops into many people’s heads when reading about this technology is whether somebody can just kick that self-driving droid around a little bit and steal your food for themselves. It’s a fair question. Starship says for these first test drives, the bots won’t be fully automatic – the company will monitor their progress remotely and take over if anything goes awry.

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The zero-emissions delivery bots sense obstacles in their path and navigate around pedestrians, getting out of the way as necessary, as seen in the video above. Not just anyone can access what’s inside, either. The customer who ordered the food has to use an app on their phone to open it, ensuring that the robot doesn’t just roll up to somebody else who lives in your apartment building and give them your pad thai.

[ By SA Rogers in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Abandoned Architecture as Art: 13 Radical Reclamation Projects

19 Jul

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

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When an abandoned structure can’t be rehabbed in the traditional sense, whether due to practical constraints or simply becoming obsolete, it can be transformed for another purpose with paint, tape, lights and sculptural installations. Artists transform derelict buildings into public art, sometimes visible to lots of passersby and sometimes only to the urban explorers who might be curious enough to climb through a broken window.

Aquatics Building by Katharina Grosse

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One of many abandoned military buildings making up Fort Tilden on the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens now spills red onto the surrounding sand in a site-specific installation by artist Katharina Grosse. The former aquatics building is highlighted inside and out in abstract crimson strokes meant to mimic the effect of a sunset in the Rockaways. The structure is set to be demolished in late 2016.

Circular Mural Inside Water Tank by Christina Angelina & Ease One

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Only urban explorers curious enough to gain access to this abandoned water tank in Slab City, California will ever see this somber circular mural in person, climbing a staircase to the top of the tank to gaze inside. Artists Christina Angelina and Ease One create a starkly emotional contrast to the red and beige tones of the desert beyond the tank’s walls.

Flower House in Detroit by Lisa Waud

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‘Flower House Detroit,’ conceived by Lisa Waud and realized with the help of florists from across the country, may be a temporary reclamation of an abandoned place, but it’s among the most striking installations for its contrast of life and decay. Each room had a different designer creating artful compositions of flowers, trees and even weeds, beautifying the space before it was deconstructed and repurposed. The land the neglected house stood on will be converted into a flower farm for Waud’s design business.

Monsters by Kim Köster

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The idea of pairing monsters and abandoned buildings may sound like a nightmare, but German street artist Kim Köster makes both seem less scary with a series of fun paintings in Berlin. Choosing easily accessible public spaces as his canvas, the artist not only takes some of the fear out of dark derelict rooms in a physical sense, but also brings the to a much wider audience thanks to an interactive children’s picture book called Monzster.

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Abandoned Architecture As Art 13 Radical Reclamations

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

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Stopped Steps: 10 Declining Abandoned Escalators

18 Jul

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Well, that did NOT escalate quickly. These busted up and broken down abandoned escalators won’t be devouring any CROC plastic sandals anytime soon.

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An outdoor escalator? In damp, rainy England? It’s more likely than you think, and most likely to be abandoned like this mossy ex-people-mover in Leeds. Snapped by Flickr user Paul Williams (Bluelemur), the long-neglected electric stairway once ferried shoppers from a pedestrian underpass up to a shopping mall. These images were taken in March of 2006; both the mall and its escalators were demolished shortly thereafter.

Somewhere Under The Rainbow

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Think “La Rainbow Hotel” and a spectrum of brilliant colors come to mind. The above post-apocalyptic scene certainly wasn’t in the minds of those who named the long-abandoned hotel though it DOES display an impressive visual palette. Jordy Meow of Haikyo.org captured the former (1990-97) hotel’s silent, seized-up & spooky escalator in July of 2012.

Narrowed Down

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When Hunter’s Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, CA closed in 1994, the “tallest industrial escalator” (according to Flickr user TunnelBug) closed along with it. We’re guessing it was the narrowest industrial escalator as well though no one to our knowledge has done a comparative survey. The images above date from 2006, 2005 and 2009 respectively.

Out Of Warranty

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If Hyundai built this escalator as well as they build their current automobiles, it might still be working today. Instead, however, the abandoned mobile stairway in South Jakarta, Indonesia’s Tebet market dates from a time when Hyundai exported the infamous Pony and Stellar to unsuspecting North American shores… just typing those names evokes the aroma of cooked engine oil. Phew!

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Stopped Steps 10 Declining Abandoned Escalators

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Tag, You’re It! Banksy Shows Softer Side, Makes Mural for Kids

16 Jul

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

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Best known for biting political commentary and poignant artistic critiques, mysterious artist Banksy showed a somewhat friendlier side of his personality in gifting a mural to elementary students who named a building after him.

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Students at the Bridge Farm Primary School in Bristol, thought to be the anonymous street artist’s hometown, renamed several campus structures in a contest. Among the winners were Blackbeard, Cabot and Banksy.

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The work itself features a child playing with a hoop, but because it’s Banksy … the hoop was turned into a tire, and the tire was set on fire. Banksy stopping by to make a mural was surprise, but he also left a note, which is even more out of character (though the work has been confirmed authentic):

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“Dear Bridge Farm School,” the letter reads. “Thanks for your letter and naming a house after me. Please have a picture, and if you don’t like it, feel free to add stuff. I’m sure the teachers won’t mind. Remember, it’s always easier to get forgiveness than permission. Much love, Banksy.”

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In a somewhat ironic twist, the school is forbidding children from painting over or around the mural, perhaps out of respect or because if its doubtless high monetary value – either way, one can be sure Banksy would approve should one of those students break the rules (images by Jon Kay via Colossal).

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

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Nemesis Machine: Cybernetic Cityscape Visualizes Surveillance Data

15 Jul

[ By SA Rogers in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Activated by unspecified data transmissions, spinners whir and lights blink atop skyscrapers of computer parts arranged like a miniature city, visualizing information in real time as it’s collected – including your own movements as an observer. Your own face blinks back at you from a video monitor as you gaze at the many electronic parts cobbled together into a strange dystopian vision of a modern metropolis. ‘The Nemesis Machine’ by Stanza makes use of data that’s already being collected in London, including environmental monitoring and security-based technologies, representing “the complexities of the real time city as a shifting morphing complex system.”

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In that way, the machine becomes a sort of physical avatar of the city, reflecting its activity even when it’s assembled in another country altogether. The viewer becomes almost like a drone hovering over the miniature cityscape, observing all of those beeps, blinks, clicks and movements as they’re sent from the sensors in London, including temperature, humidity and motion. The installation asks the question, what will future cities look like as we move even further into the era of constant surveillance?

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“The Nemesis Machine is a mini, mechanical metropolis that monitors the behaviors,a activities, and changing information, of the world around us using networked devices and electronically transmitted information across the internet. The artwork reforms this information and data creating parallel realities. At the heart of this work lies an interest in the urban environment, the network of cameras and sensors to be found there, and the associated issue of privacy and alienation.”

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“The installation poses the question of who owns the data and speculates that virtual borders will soon create more systems of control. What I’m doing, which is sort of new ground, is that I’m hacking access to a network and re-appropriating the data and information, and I’m re-contextualizing it to give it a wider meaning. I want to show that you can do something positive with this data. And as I say data is the medium of the age. The real world is made virtual and then real again.”

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Double-Helix Bridge Design for Beijing Based on Abstracted Olympic Symbol

Tiny in Dubai: New Miniature Art Installations by Slinkachu

Tunnel Visions: 15 All-Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

LED Light Installation in Wellington by Angus Muir

The Pixels Crossing in Paris by Miguel Chevalier

‘Terminus’ Ribbon Tunnel in Georgia by Megan Mosholder

‘Tunel’ by Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti

Tube in Tirol by Numen/For Use

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Tunnel Visions 15 All Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

Pokédrone Go: Micro-Drone Augments Reach for Pokémon Players

Dystopian Textile: Beirut Architect Builds Bulletproof Headscarf

The Brave New World of Robotic Pizza Delivery is Almost Here

Abandoned Architecture as Art: 13 Radical Reclamation Projects

Aquatics Building by Katharina Grosse

Circular Mural Inside Water Tank by Christina Angelina & Ease One

Flower House in Detroit by Lisa Waud

Monsters by Kim Köster

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Abandoned Architecture As Art 13 Radical Reclamations

Stopped Steps: 10 Declining Abandoned Escalators

Somewhere Under The Rainbow

Narrowed Down

Out Of Warranty

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Stopped Steps 10 Declining Abandoned Escalators

Tag, You’re It! Banksy Shows Softer Side, Makes Mural for Kids

Nemesis Machine: Cybernetic Cityscape Visualizes Surveillance Data

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

LED Light Installation in Wellington by Angus Muir

The Pixels Crossing in Paris by Miguel Chevalier

‘Terminus’ Ribbon Tunnel in Georgia by Megan Mosholder

‘Tunel’ by Rejane Cantoni & Leonardo Crescenti

Tube in Tirol by Numen/For Use

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Tunnel Visions 15 All Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

Aquatics Building by Katharina Grosse

Circular Mural Inside Water Tank by Christina Angelina & Ease One

Flower House in Detroit by Lisa Waud

Monsters by Kim Köster

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Abandoned Architecture As Art 13 Radical Reclamations

Somewhere Under The Rainbow

Narrowed Down

Out Of Warranty

Next Page – Click Below to Read More: Stopped Steps 10 Declining Abandoned Escalators

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Tunnel Visions 15 All Encompassing Explorable Art Installations

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Abandoned Architecture As Art 13 Radical Reclamations

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Stopped Steps 10 Declining Abandoned Escalators