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Under Cover: Secret Swiss Military Bunkers Hide in Plain Sight

13 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

swiss bunker under cover

Throughout the rolling hills of rural Switzerland, tucked inside idyllic works of regional vernacular architecture, lie disguised fortifications of a country always ready for war. Some of these bunkers conceal gun caches, communications infrastructure and even anti-aircraft artillery.

swiss bunker camouflage

The camouflage is incredibly convincing: a worn wood-sided barn, countryside home with cracking paint or a cute small-town cottage could all house militarized surprises.

fake chalet window painted

The public is not privy to precise numbers, but estimates suggest the country contains 250 or more such structures variously disguised as buildings or parts of the natural landscape.

villa rose bunker

painted window

The Swiss are world-famous for their perpetual state of military preparedness, but few outsiders (as well as many citizens of Switzerland) are unaware just how much they are surrounded with infrastructure of war.

swiss bunker cannon

Christian Schwager’s relatively recent book on Fake Chalets helped make these buildings an open secret, in turn aiding preservation efforts for many of these facilities that no longer serve an official purpose.

fake chalets

Reporter Anneke Bokern has also delved into the history of these buildings, many of which date back to the 1930s and 40s: “Theatre painters were in charge of the paint jobs, supplying each bunker with a customised skin inspired by the local chalet style.”

fake chalet hillside military

fake chalet interior

“As the results prove, they went about their job with Swiss precision – although the bunkers only had to deceive at a minimum distance of 20 metres. They painted realistic window shutters, created perfect imitations of wood grain, and even took the position of the sun into consideration.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

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Crazy Combo Compositions: Photo Series Contrasts the Unexpected

12 Jan

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

Skiers land jumps on ice cream cones, construction equipment struggles to transport oversized hot dogs and jet-powered seagulls zoom through the sky in a series of surreal photographic collages by Stephen McMennamy. Creative director of the advertising agency BBDO, McMennamy takes original photos of everything from meatballs to hand grenades and puts them together in unexpected ways, calling the results ‘combophotos.’

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Inspired by the plethora of talent and creativity that can be found on Instagram, the photographer set out to pair things you’d never imagine together. Rather than seamlessly blending the photos in Photoshop so they appear to be a single composition, McMennamy simply matches up the contours of each subject, leaving behind the demarcation lines.

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This technique results in images that tell an entirely different story than each of the originals, turning what would be highly ordinary, stock-photo-type images into something else altogether. McMennamy’s curiosity was initially piqued by photo apps that let you layer photos into collage compositions, and then he tried connecting images for a more fluid effect.

Processed with VSCOcam with se3 preset

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combo photo 13

“The whole thing is one big scavenger hunt,” says the artist. “Sometimes it’s as simple as playing with scale and other times there’s a more meaningful message being told, like the cigarettes and French fries image but for the most part it’s just visual fun, like a truck with skateboard wheels.”

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Driving on Auto-Pilot: 13 Future Visions of Cars & Commuting

12 Jan

[ By Steph in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

future cars main
Within fifteen years we could be zooming around in flying passenger drones and self-driving luxury pods, and claiming packages from driverless delivery trucks that verify our identities by scanning our faces. At least, that’s what Mercedes-Benz, BMW and other automakers and designers seem to be hoping with these optimistically futuristic concept car designs – and while it might realistically take a lot longer than that to see real, functioning flying cars, some seemingly far-out ideas are already on their way.

Passenger Drone

As if the idea of self-driving cars on the roads weren’t already nerve-wracking enough, soon passengers might be able to take to the skies without a pilot onboard. A Chinese startup called Ehang unveiled the world’s first passenger done, an Autonomous Aerial Vehicle that can carry one person and a single backpack for about twenty minutes from one location to another, with the destination set via tablet before takeoff. The 440-pound drone folds up its propellers to fit within a standard parking spot. What happens if something malfunctions? The company says the drone can still fly with a propeller out, and will land in the nearest possible area if anything goes wrong.

Self-Driving Chevrolet-FNR

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future cars chevrolet FNR 3

A world away from Google’s dorky self-driving bubble car, the Chevrolet-FNR by GM envisions the autonomous commuting future circa 2030. The front seats rotate to face the rear, and the interior is packed full of touch-screens, with iris-recognition entry, crystal laser lights and “magnetic hubbies wheel electric motors.” The “dragonfly dual-wing doors” are so sharp, they look dangerous.

Mercedes-Benz F 015

While the FNR isn’t exactly ready to actually hit the road, the similarly driverless Mercedes-Benz F 015 is already roaming San Francisco. This sleek and shiny luxury pod is part of Mercedes’ vision for a safer future in which all cars are unmanned, automatically stop to let pedestrians cross the road, and let all passengers read, text, surf the web or whatever it is humans will be doing on gadgets in 2030. The company still has a long way to go in ironing out the tech involved in this project, but the proof of concept is impressive.

Self-Driving IDEO

The first of three self-driving vehicle concepts by global design company IDEO interacts with your email, calendar and text messages to set your route and senses when you’re 200 feet away, firing up and preparing for your ride. As you head down the freeway, your car will link up with other cars moving in the same direction, joining a ‘platoon’ of tailgating vehicles for speed and safety.

WorkOnWheels Commuting Workspace Pod

IDEO’s second concept is WorkOnWheels, a transparent mobile office pod that zooms around the city, either acting as an automated place to complete tasks while you’re on your way to your workplace or zooming to the scenic setting of your choice. You can take your team on a brainstorming session by the sea, park in a bustling urban spot to observe city life or whatever else you can dream up. The pods are rentable by the hour and drive themselves back to their home base to recharge when you’re done.

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Driving On Auto Pilot 13 Future Visions Of Cars Commuting

[ By Steph in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

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Brazil Nots: Abandoned Buildings Of Utopian Brasilia

11 Jan

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

abandoned-brasilia-1a
Brasilia was designed by visionary architects as a utopian city of tomorrow. Now that tomorrow’s arrived, it appears those plans haven’t panned out.

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It took just 41 months to build Brasilia, which was officially inaugurated on April 21st of 1960. The original plans called for a resident population of 500,000 but as of 2011, five times that number lived in the city and its surrounding metropolitan area. Over 50 years of unplanned urban sprawl has resulted in dysfunctional neighborhoods blighted by abandoned structures of all shapes and sizes.

Typical of Brasilia’s dark side is the Torre Palace Hotel. Built in 1973 and boasting 14 stories with a total 140 rooms, the hotel closed in 2013 – a victim of unsolvable financial disagreements among the original builder’s heirs.

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Photographer Ricardo Padue and Flickr user -Paulo -Bragga (collspooky) document the current sorry state of the once-swanky former hotel now taken over by looters, squatters and the homeless.

Theater of Pain

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Designed (like many of Brasilia’s iconic structures) by Oscar Niemeyer, the Claudio Santoro National Theater has spent a significant percentage of its lifespan closed for “repairs”. Lack of funds for operations and maintenance is the culprit here, a situation exacerbated by the world financial crisis of 2008-09. When not hosting theatrical troupes, this strikingly futuristic building shelters drug addicts and the homeless.

Sloppy Cop Shop

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In some ways Brasilia is the victim of its own design: built as a beacon of enlightenment smack dab in the middle of an historically poor region, the city acted as a magnet for central Brazil’s unemployed, disenfranchised and opportunistic citizens. Unfortunately, opportunities are limited in a city whose raison d’être was to house government ministries, foreign embassies and federal employees.

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One might expect the city’s police to have their hands full; yet the above Brasilia police station snapped by Flickr user Lúcio Costi Ribeiro is as abandoned as the day is long.

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Brazil Nots Abandoned Buildings Of Utopian Brasilia

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Layer Chair: Mod Slots Let You Swap Out Panelized Acrylic Decor

10 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

Treating the seat and back as blank slates for expression, the Layer Chair allows its owner to slip in and slide out works of art and design, transforming the look of the furniture on demand.

layer hologram pop art

layer print insertion

The clear acrylic framework “allows for a see-through structure. Both the back and the base of the chair have a void where the user can fit three different layers of printed or colored acrylic, or even wood, glass, or any other material that comes in mind.”

layer chair mod effect

layer chair diy mod

The approach by South Korean graphic and industrial designer Sohyun Yun is intended to address aesthetic limitations of traditional chairs, which are locked into a single style or look. Instead, through layers, this seat is visually refreshed through user-driven modifications.

layer normal seat use

layer seat insert

Anything is possible, from pairing a hologram back with an Andy Warhol seat print, to slotting in more conventional looking pieces and parts aligned with other furniture looks and styles.

layer custom chair color

layers sliding into place

layer simple colors seat

The layers also allow for experimentation and playful interactions between sheets, since their patterns can be partial and/or semi-opaque. A number of layers come with the initial object, but others can be created or bought by users as well.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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DIY Loft Kits Bridge the Gap Between Furniture & Architecture

09 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

loft kit 1

Add 160 square feet to your tiny, high-ceilinged apartment without consulting an architect or getting a permit thanks to DIY loft kits that fall somewhere between a renovation and the lofted beds you can snag at IKEA. A company called Expand Furniture makes the process of creating a mezzanine level as easy as installing a large piece of furniture, with models ranging from a bed platform to a entire extra room.

loft kit 2

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The three kits don’t come cheap, ranging from about $ 1,500 to over $ 4,000, but they’re still less pricey than permanent additions, and don’t require owning your apartment or getting your landlord’s permission to remodel. The DIY Loft Bed Kit has enough room for a mattress, nightstands and a bit of free floor space, and takes just four hours for two people to set up.

loft kit 3

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The modular Vancouver DIY Loft T8 Kit is height- and width-adjustable, and you can add on all sorts of accessories, like stairs of varying steepness, skylights and a variety of guard rails. The priciest kit, the New York DIY Loft T15, is large enough to be used as an entire elevated bedroom or office. All of the kits ship flat-pack from North American warehouses.

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desk

table

Expand Furniture also offers a range of impressive transforming items for compact spaces, including murphy beds, pop-up coffee tables and bookcases that flip around to reveal either a fold-down work surface or a mattress, all in one slim unit. The website is full of fun stuff for small-apartment-dwellers to fantasize about purchasing, if only they had $ 8,000 to drop on a king-sized bed hidden behind a sofa.

[ By Steph in Design & Furniture & Decor. ]

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Grave Footings: Modern Bridge Built on Thousands of Headstones

08 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

graveyard coastal bridge foundation

When the tide is low in the Delaware River, an unlikely sight emerges from the water: gravestones in various states of decay, serving to bolster the columns of a bridge spanning above.

graveyard coastal ivew

The Betsy Ross Bridge is a modest continuous-truss structure most people drive across without giving it a second thought to the graveyard remnants below. Its otherworldly source materials, however, can be seen both along the riverbanks in the foundations of the bridge itself.

gravestone banks riprap stone

The Monument Cemetery in Philadelphia held the remains of 28,000 people before it was condemned by the city and given over to Temple University. The land was turned into a parking lot in the 1950s, 8,000 bodies moved to new marked graves and 20,000 unclaimed corpses shifted to a mass burial site.

gravestone foundation water

The limestone and granite grave markers, however, represented a significant and useful resource, well suited to erosion-reducing riprap and column-footer foundations for and around a nearby bridge connecting New Jersey and Philly. Some were ground into rubble or have since eroded, but on the surfaces of many of these stones remain names, dates and other details still visible to those who would seek to unbury their past (images by K. Scott Kreider).

[ By WebUrbanist in Travel & Urban Exploration. ]

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Bike Autobahn: Germany’s 60-Mile Highway for Cyclists Only

07 Jan

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

germany bike highway 1

Germany is already home to the world’s best-known superhighway, the Autobahn, and now cyclists have 60 miles of breathtaking scenery reclaimed from disused railroad tracks all to themselves. Informally dubbed the ‘Bicycle Autobahn,’ the highway is currently under construction, with five kilometers freshly opened for public usage. Ultimately, it’ll connect 10 Western cities including Duisburg, Bochum and Hamm, as well as four universities.

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Up to 10 percent of Germany’s commuting is already done via bike, but until now, there hasn’t been an easy way for cyclists to get from one city to the next. Many of Germany’s biggest cities have bike paths on the roads, but they tend to be narrow, and don’t generally connect into longer routes. When cyclists want to ride around without worrying about cars, they have to go to parks like Münster’s popular Promenade or Munich’s Englischer Garten (pictured above and below.)

germany bike highway 5

Locally accessible to nearly two million people, this new protected roadway is closed to motor vehicles, making it a safe and pleasant ride for the entire stretch. Development group RVR, which funded the highway with assistance from the European Union and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, estimates that the bike highway could take 50,000 cars off the road every day. RVR is currently working on getting the federal government to fund the rest of the route, instead of leaving the project languishing in the underfunded hands of regional governments.

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The city of Frankfurt is planning its own 18-mile bike roadway to Darmstadt, and Munich is extending its to a 9-mile stretch making the city easy to access from the northern suburbs. London has also declared its intention to convert its abandoned subway tunnels into a highway for cyclists and pedestrians.

Photos via: Darren Johnson, Marcio Cabral de Moura, Anne Guegan, ptwo

[ By Steph in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Feline Good: 15 Modern Cat Perches, Houses & Scratchers

07 Jan

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

cat houses ceiling 2

We don’t own our cats, they own us – and these fun feline furniture designs celebrate their rightful places in our homes. That is, sneering down at us from elevated perches on the walls and ceiling, as is befitting of their status. From modern cat beds that look right at home beside Arne Jacobsen chairs and modular cardboard box play sets to entire custom habitats built into their humans’ houses, these cool cat-centric products go way beyond what you’ll find at your local pet store.

All-Seeing Cats: Ceiling-Mounted Feline Playgrounds

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Our feline overlords can literally look down upon us from their elevated perches in this series of wall- and ceiling-mounted cat furniture by Goldtatze. German company Goldtatze designs modular elements that can be combined in various ways to create unique feline playgrounds with bridges, hammocks, scratching posts, beds and little covered houses with holes so they can stay hidden while silently judging you from above.

4 Sculptural Modern Cat Houses by Architecture

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A group of architects teamed up to produce sculptural modern cat furniture for the Giving Shelter fundraiser, which donated its proceeds to the non-profit, cat-focused organization FixNation. The same attention to detail that you’d see in a human house was applied to these structures , many of which combine cat comfort with functionality for their human owners.

Meyou Cat Cocoons

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For everyone who’s ever lamented the gaudy cat bed selection at a local pet store, there’s Meyou, a line of modern minimalist cat furniture by Parisian designer Aude Sanchez. These cocoon-like beds feature spherical, replaceable inserts that allow cats to scratch the temptingly nubbly surface to their hearts’ content.

Cat Study House: A Tent for Cats

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Give your kitty (or small dog) her very own tent with Cat Study House, a portable yet sturdy little shelter made from canvas, a bamboo framework and joints made of copper and acrylic. It’s lightweight, washable and features a little porthole at the top so your pets can keep an eye on you.

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Feline Good 15 Modern Cat Perches Houses Scratchers

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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All Roads Really Lead to Rome: City-Centric Arterial Renderings

06 Jan

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

all roads lead rome

During the lead up to the invasion of Iraq, a German newspaper published step-by-step driving directions from Berlin to Baghdad, highlighting the interconnectivity of contiguous European and Middle Eastern land masses.

roads to rome map

This series of maps from Moovel Lab highlights similar phenomena, starting with a map that shows the truth of an old aphorism about all roads leading to Rome. Ancient Romans created an estimated 50,000 miles of road across Europe, Asia and Africa, with their coastal Italian capital as the origin point.

all roads 10 cities

Next, they moved on to 10 major cities in the United States, analyzing how regional traffic flowed into each, before going through a full analysis of fastest routes to state capitals. The results were surprisingly varied: “Remarkable are the different road networks throughout the States. While the east coast seems to rely on roads parallel to the coast. The rockies and appalachian mountains reveal their topography with their curvy roads containing some blank spots not reached by any road. While the mid west of the USA show long straight road networks in rectangular alignment.”

roads us capitals map

Their process is relatively intuitive. The mapmakers overlaid a grid on existing open-source maps, then added a query: how would one get from here to Rome (or other cities)? The results have been turned into maps that look almost like a study of the human vascular system, with small veins feeding larger arteries along the path to the hub point. “The outcome of this project is somewhere between information visualisation and data art, unveiling mobility and a very large scale. View and interactively explore all roads to rome and other cities.”

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Under Cover: Secret Swiss Military Bunkers Hide in Plain Sight

Crazy Combo Compositions: Photo Series Contrasts the Unexpected

Driving on Auto-Pilot: 13 Future Visions of Cars & Commuting

Passenger Drone

Self-Driving Chevrolet-FNR

Mercedes-Benz F 015

Self-Driving IDEO

WorkOnWheels Commuting Workspace Pod

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Driving On Auto Pilot 13 Future Visions Of Cars Commuting

Brazil Nots: Abandoned Buildings Of Utopian Brasilia

Theater of Pain

Sloppy Cop Shop

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Brazil Nots Abandoned Buildings Of Utopian Brasilia

Layer Chair: Mod Slots Let You Swap Out Panelized Acrylic Decor

DIY Loft Kits Bridge the Gap Between Furniture & Architecture

Grave Footings: Modern Bridge Built on Thousands of Headstones

Bike Autobahn: Germany’s 60-Mile Highway for Cyclists Only

Feline Good: 15 Modern Cat Perches, Houses & Scratchers

All-Seeing Cats: Ceiling-Mounted Feline Playgrounds

4 Sculptural Modern Cat Houses by Architecture

Meyou Cat Cocoons

Cat Study House: A Tent for Cats

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Feline Good 15 Modern Cat Perches Houses Scratchers

All Roads Really Lead to Rome: City-Centric Arterial Renderings

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

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