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Midcentury Grain Silo to Modern Home: Incredibly Cozy Conversion

17 Mar

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

silo house 10

With an entirely custom-built interior, a nine-foot-wide sliding glass door and a warm modern aesthetic, this grain silo converted to a compact home seems worlds away from its humble farmyard origins. Architect Christoph Kaiser purchased the 1955 corrugated steel wall silo from a Kansas farmer and had it dismantled and shipped to downtown Phoenix, Arizona on the back of a pickup truck to begin the renovation process that would transform it into a beautiful, cozy and affordable two-story residence.

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Once set in place in the up-and-coming Garfield Historic District, the silo began its dramatic makeover process. Large doors and windows were added to bring light into the previously darkened space, and the oculus at the top used to promote air circulation to the stored grain was turned into a skylight. Views of the Phoenix skyline are strategically framed, with the other windows looking out onto a spacious private garden.

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With the silo’s tiny footprint, maximizing the interior space was a top priority. Kaiser designed a built-in, all-in-one solution that’s essentially one big piece of furniture to accommodate all of the residents’ daily living needs. Curved to match the line of the walls, the custom interior is clad mostly in reclaimed walnut flooring scored on Craigslist. Kaiser even designed a one-of-a-kind ceiling lamp with hooks for hanging pots and pans to save space. The Eames wire chairs are the only elements that weren’t custom-made for the home.

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A spiraling staircase leads to the sleeping loft, which is equipped with a digital projector so the couple has their very own mini movie theater in their bedroom. The bathroom, finished in glossy floor-to-ceiling penny tile, boasts a rounded custom vanity and compact Duravit toilet. When the nine-foot window is opened to the garden in nice weather, the home seems to expand.

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“It was love at first sight: an affordable, challenging prospect,” the architect tells World Architecture News. “The thought of assembling a kit of parts that fits in the bed of a truck, and ending up with a home for two was a tantalizing challenge, very appealing from a carbon-footprint, sustainability, and shall we say, ‘architectural rigor’ standpoint.”

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Ribbon of Light: Replacing LA’s Most Iconic Historical Bridge

16 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

bridge from above

Quite possibly the most filmed and photographed bridge in the world, the Sixth Street Viaduct, spanning the Los Angeles River, is a challenging icon to replace, but the Ribbon of Light aims to try.

sixth street viaduct original

The famous Art-Deco viaduct in question, built in 1932, has been featured in dozens of films, television shows, music videos and video games, including Grease, Gone in 60 Seconds, Terminators 2 and 3, Madonna’s ‘Borderline’ video and episodes of Lost and 24.

Some sequences show most recognizable part (directly over the LA river) being driven across, but many are shot from the river below. Unfortunately for fans, its was deemed seismically unstable thanks to compromised concrete supports, despite its historic landmark status with the city.

sixth street viaduct replacement

Architect Michael Maltzan, responsible for its replacement, has made his design an epic ode to its iconic curves, reprising and repeating them across a much longer portion of the new structure.

bridge at night

The new structure features arched trusses to be illuminated at night, suspended over a series of parks and paths being developed below and alongside it. A series of staircases and ramps will allow pedestrians and bikers to move up, down and across it as well.

new viaduct and park

The architects are clearly cognizant of the landmark they are replacing, and, in a way, are preserving its visibility through these repetitive forms, which actually extend much further out on either side than the original arches.

under bridge park

From the architects: “The project foresees a multi-modal future for the city, one that accommodates cars, incorporates significant new bicycle connections, and also increases connectivity for pedestrians to access the viaduct, not only at its endpoints, but along the entirety of the viaduct, linking the bridge, the Los Angeles River, and future urban landscapes in a more meaningful relationship.”

la river ribbon bridge

“These pairs of repeated concrete arches and cable-supported roadway deck are simultaneously elegant and efficient. The design approach unifies and optimizes the architecture of the viaduct through repetition, creating a unique configuration through the repeated use of arches, roadway and pier forms: an iconic structure.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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Aperture Art: 360 Doors & Windows of the World Sorted by Country

15 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

doors of the world

This gorgeous collection of photographic montages highlights regional similarities and differences between types and styles of door and window designs all across Europe, starting with Porto, Portugal:

windows of porto portugal

The Alps:

windows of the alps

Santa Susana, Spain:

windos of santa susana spain

Sesimbra, Portugal:

windows of sesimbra portugal

London, England:

windows of london england

Burano, Italy:

windows of burano italy

Andre Goncalves, a photographer from Lisbon, set about creating this catalog of colors and textures with his ‘Windows of the World’ series (mostly by city and region), then expanded to develop ‘Doors of the World’ as well (sorted by country):

Romania:

doors of romania

England:

doors of england

Portugal:

doors of portugal

Individually, a single door might not say much about a city or country, but taken together: patterns emerge, from tile work around doors to color preferences and decorative touches.

Barcelona, Spain:

windows of barcelona spain

Montemor-o-Novo, Portgual:

windows of montemor-o-novo portugal

Evora, Portugal:

windows of evora portugal

Venice, Italy:

windows of venice italy

Bucharest, Romania:

windows of bucharest romania

Lisbon, Portugal:

windows of lisbon portugal

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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In Praise of Art: Abandoned Church Colorfully Transformed by Okuda

15 Mar

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

okuda church

Abandoned and dilapidated not so long ago, a neglected church in Morocco has become a vivid landmark decorated from the ground to the roof with colorful geometric illustrations by the street artist Okuda San Miguel. The project ’11 Mirages to Freedom’ wraps the entire facade of the structure in brilliant rainbow-hued paintings against a sunny yellow backdrop, making symbolic visual use of the architectural elements like the windows.

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Rather than just covering the abandoned church with murals, the renowned Spanish artist created an interactive display honoring its past, its structural integrity, the beauty of its lines and shapes. The name of the piece comes from the building’s eleven faces. Bars covering the windows are transformed into bird cages, the windows themselves into hats and crowns.

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The murals are in keeping with Okuda’s highly distinctive style, which employs facets of bright colors to render a cornucopia of animals and fantasy creatures. Here, the artist adds traditional Moroccan motifs, paying tribute to the individuality of the building and its setting. The project is part of the British Council’s Street Art Caravane Initiative.

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Check out Okuda’s previous works featured on Weburbanist, including a fleet of colorful freighters and a 100-year-old church in Spain transformed into a skate park.

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

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Radical Aquatic Recreation: 10 Extreme Water Sports

14 Mar

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

water sports jet pack 5

Whether powered by jet packs or taking the capabilities of the human body to whole new depths (literally,) these water gadgets and activities multiply the fun and danger of more conventional water sports like surfing and wake boarding. A shockingly realistic shark-shaped personal watercraft jumps out of the water, an Iron Man suit propels you high up into the air and a water ‘wing’ lets you fly beneath the surface.

Seabreacher

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Designed to look like sailfish, killer whales, sharks and other large sea creatures, the Seabreacher is actually a two-person underwater vehicle dubbing itself “the ultimate diving machine.” It looks pretty insane when it bursts up out of the water in a dramatic leap, and has likely terrified more than a few nearby boaters when spotted doing so in the wild. An acrylic canopy and underwater view ports give the pilot and passenger a nearly 360-degree view as they ‘fly’ through the water. The dorsal fin acts like a snorkel during the 5-10 second periods in which you dive below the surface to a depth of 5-6 feet.

Water Wing for Flying Underwater

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Have you ever gone wakeboarding and wished that you could dive below the surface of the water temporarily while being pulled behind the boat? A device called the Subwing makes that possible with a twistable joint in the center of a fiberglass or carbon fiber board towed behind a boat. Just angle the board so you dip under the water and stay under for as long as you like, using the bend in the board to steer, before popping back up.

JetSurf

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Add a jet ski engine to a surfboard and what you get is a JetSurf, an ultralight carbon and kevlar board that can reach a top speed of 35mph and carry a 3-liter fuel tank that’ll take you on a 45-mile trip. It weighs about 30 pounds, it’s fairly compact and it floats. The experience is intended to be a sort of super-powered version of surfing. The prices start at $ 12K.

Deep Freediving

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Free diving is incredibly dangerous and strikingly beautiful to watch, as evidenced by this video of fearless diver Guillame Néry reaching the bottom of the world’s deepest salt water blue hole attests. Dean’s Blue Hole is an amazing 603 feet deep. Free divers are able to hold their breath for far longer than most people, relying on the capacity of their own lungs rather than breathing apparatus like scuba gear. It’s undoubtedly exhilarating, and there are dozens of things that can go terribly wrong. The world’s greatest free diver, Natalia Molchanova, disappeared in the Balearic Sea in 2015 after failing to surface from a recreational dive. It’s likely that she was swept away by a strong underwater current.

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Radical Aquatic Recreation 10 Extreme Water Sports

[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]

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Geographical Profiling Points to Artist Banksy’s Secret Identity

14 Mar

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

banksy identity real life

A set of mathematical processes developed for use in crime-fighting and disease-tracking indicates that one already-suspected individual may indeed be the infamous graffiti and installation artist known as Banksy.

banksy revealed former hoax

The approach of “geographical profiling” is often used to track down repeat offenders, serial criminals whose strikes began to form patterns that can be productively analyzed by experts and run through models by mathematicians.

The findings help paint a picture of probable places of residence and areas of everyday operation, criminal or otherwise, sometimes narrowing the search to an area as small as a few hundred square feet.

banksy street art

Steven Le Comber, a biologist at the the University of London, learned of geographic profiling from Kim Rossmo, a criminologist at Texas State University, growing interested because of potential applications for disease vector studies. The two then began teaming up to find both pathogens and people.

In this case, their modeling shows clusters of activity in London and Bristol based around 140 data points, specifically: sites of known or alleged works by Banksy. Their findings, reported in the Journal of Spatial Science, suggest a handful of addresses in London (a pub, park and residence) all associated with one Robin Gunningham.

Already suspected of being Banksy, Gunningham may yet be a ruse or a plant, but science suggests the individual is very likely connected with the artist, one way or another. As to the question: who is Banksy? We may never really know for sure.

From the abstract: “The pseudonymous artist Banksy is one of the UK’s most successful contemporary artists, but his identity remains a mystery. Here, we use a Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) model of geographic profiling, a mathematical technique developed in criminology and finding increasing application within ecology and epidemiology, to analyse the spatial patterns of Banksy artworks in Bristol and London. The model takes as input the locations of these artworks, and calculates the probability of ‘offender’ residence across the study area. Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g., his home), supporting his identification as Banksy.”

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

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H2O Yeah! The Water Tank Project Makes NYC Cooler

13 Mar

[ By Steve in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

water-tank-project-0
Like rainwater flowing from rooftops to roads, The Water Tank Project seeks to artistically enhance New York City‘s gritty skyline from the top down.

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Spearheaded by artist/activist Mary Jordan, The Water Tank Project does double duty as both a cool art installation and an innovative awareness campaign spotlighting the global water crisis.

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Compared by one of the participating artists to “a museum waiting to happen,” NYC’s rooftop water tanks expand the 2D format of advertising billboards into the next dimension!

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Over 30 artists including Jay-Z and Jeff Koons signed on to transform dozens of otherwise nondescript rooftop water tanks into colorful examples of activist art. The tanks themselves won’t be painted – preparing the exterior surfaces alone would be expensive, time-consuming and environmentally unfriendly.

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Instead, the artists will work on vinyl “canvases” customized to fit each individual water tank. Once imprinted with the artwork, the rectangular pieces will be wrapped around the tanks and secured against wind and weather. As The Water Tank Project is neither a permanent nor a fixed exhibit, works can be removed and/or replaced quickly and easily as required.

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The Water Tank Project was organized by Word Above The Street, headed by Mary Jordan, who was inspired to shine a spotlight on wasteful water use after visiting Ethiopia in 2007. “Water is our most challenged but taken-for-granted resource. It’s all around us but virtually invisible,” explains Neville Wakefield, a member of the project’s curatorial team. “By drawing attention to the water tanks, we hope to alert the world to the wastage of our most precious commodity.”

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[ By Steve in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Nesting Architecture: Folding Models of Eastern Bloc Buildings

13 Mar

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

architecture block nesting dolls

This series of recycled cardboard models references both the functional styles of postwar Soviet architecture as well as the Russian tradition of handcrafted nesting dolls.

architecture nested set

architecture block set

block architecture brutalist postwar

In the wake of World War II, European cities were forced to rebuild in a hurry, focusing on cheap and efficient structures that could effectively be mass-produced. Blokoshka (from: Matryoshka and blocks) by Polish studio Zupagrafika borrows from the pragmatic minimalism of this architectural history.

architecture cardboard sheet

architecture paper construction folding

architecture sheet set assemble

blocksha box set

The four units represent four types of building in four places: the sleeping districts of Moscow, Plattenbau Constructions of East Berlin, ruin-topping estates of Warsaw of moscow, and Panelak blocks of Prague.

architecture tower side

architecture smallest unit

architecture closeup graffiti

The prefabricated pieces are nestled in sheets of cardboard, ready to be folded into place without the need for glue, scissors or other tools. Each resulting structure tucks neatly into the next, so the sets can be deployed into districts or recombined into shelf-sitting modules.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Secrets Beneath Cities: Sculptures Inspired by Nintendo Games

12 Mar

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

secrets beneath cities 1

“The underworld is more fun,” says Luke O’Sullivan, the artist who painstakingly crafts stunning cityscape sculptures with intricate subterranean sections inspired by the seemingly never-ending underground worlds in early Nintendo games like Super Mario Bros. Working primarily in wood and salvaged materials, O’Sullivan creates surreal multi-level spaces with platforms , trapdoors, buckets and ladders. It’s easy to imagine Mario jumping from one area to the next inside, popping out of tunnels, racking up mushrooms and avoiding goombas.

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“My work is about the intersection of built environments and subterranean systems,” says O’Sullivan in his artist statement. “Through the application of screen-printed drawings on wood, metal and other flat surfaces, I create architecturally based sculptures. Often inspired by dystopian and science fiction films, I combine recognizable architectural forms and impossible buildings to create diorama-esque works.”

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The largest piece he’s completed, “Industry, Entropy,” measures ten feet long and took over three years to complete. The artist describes it as a “milestone piece.” This one is wider than it is tall, but others are like individual islands of towering structures that rise high above the surface and plunge deep below it.

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Working in a restrained color palette, O’Sullivan keeps the above-ground sections of the cities relatively two-dimensional, hinting that the more detailed and literally well-rounded world beneath it is what’s really important. These subterranean areas seem full of secret functions, each one brimming with mysteries and begging to be explored. If only we could shrink ourselves down to climb around in them ourselves. See more on Instagram.

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Appeals to Authorities: 16 Shots of a Year-Long Graffiti Sequence

11 Mar

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

What started with a single stenciled word (“RED”) became a year-long interactive art experiment, as graffiti artist Mobstr tested the patience, limits, diligence and ingenuity of officials tasked with cleaning up his work. This was not his first work aimed at the establishment, but it may be his most epic visual dialogue with authorities to date.

“I cycled past this wall on the way to work for years. I noticed that graffiti painted within the red area was buffed with red paint. However, graffiti outside of the red area would be removed via pressure washing.”

“This prompted the start of an experiment. Unlike other works, I was very uncertain as to what results it would yield. Below is what transpired over the course of a year.”

Over the year, as the sequence shows, the artist continually tried to think outside the (red) box, and challenge his adversaries in fresh ways. In a way, the end result was predictable but could also be interpreted as a subtle nod to the original message.

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Midcentury Grain Silo to Modern Home: Incredibly Cozy Conversion

Ribbon of Light: Replacing LA’s Most Iconic Historical Bridge

Aperture Art: 360 Doors & Windows of the World Sorted by Country

In Praise of Art: Abandoned Church Colorfully Transformed by Okuda

Radical Aquatic Recreation: 10 Extreme Water Sports

Seabreacher

Water Wing for Flying Underwater

JetSurf

Deep Freediving

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Radical Aquatic Recreation 10 Extreme Water Sports

Geographical Profiling Points to Artist Banksy’s Secret Identity

H2O Yeah! The Water Tank Project Makes NYC Cooler

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
H2o Yeah The Water Tank Project Makes Nyc Cooler

Nesting Architecture: Folding Models of Eastern Bloc Buildings

Secrets Beneath Cities: Sculptures Inspired by Nintendo Games

Appeals to Authorities: 16 Shots of a Year-Long Graffiti Sequence

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

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Seabreacher

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