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Playable Landscapes: Custom Concrete 3D Puzzles of Cityscapes

13 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

3d city maps

Pick any spot in the world and this company can print out a custom mould for a concrete pour, which, when cured, will make a 16- or 32-piece puzzle out of your favorite place.

3d cityscape

Using Open Street Map data, Logiplaces has already created a preliminary set of popular places voted up by fans for mass production, including downtown San Francisco and the Grand Canyon.

Liked a traditional puzzle, the sides of each piece can be matched up to create the whole, but unlike most puzzles, it is the vertical rather than the horizontal shapes that allow for matching. It becomes a matter of figure and ground, connecting building scales and typographies rather than colors and 2D patterns.

3d puzzles

At this point, fully-custom selections are cost-prohibitive for consumers, but the goal of the company is to make these accessible to mass markets as well. “When we came up with the idea of LOGIPLACES, we believed it had the potential to go global with loads of different places to cover. However, right now, we would first like to see, what are your favourite places that we can start manufacturing, and of course, we’re interested in what our first consumers think.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Stark Suburbs of Paris: Scenes from a Former Utopia

12 Nov

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Dull gray concrete volumes stacked in irregular shapes stretch across the landscape just beyond Paris like a set from a dystopian film, dwarfing the mostly elderly residents who wander their halls. The ‘Babel-like’ housing estate known as Noisy-le-Grand began, in fact, as a utopian dream: a postmodern wonderland built between the ‘50s and ‘80s to welcome a migrant population of refugees from rural areas of France and other nations.

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Standing in stark visual opposition to the gleaming glass and steel of Paris’ more modern architecture and all of its centuries-old Gothic grandeur, Noisy-le-Grand was envisioned as a counterpoint to the boxy white creations of Le Corbusier, which the architects deemed unimaginative. Ricardo Bofill and Manuel Nunez-Yanowsky designed the Espaces Abraxas and Arénes de Picasso with a postmodern sensibility.

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But while the structures certainly aren’t lacking in imagination, ambition or scale, they are often – not unreasonably – compared to fortresses, prisons and industrial architecture. Unsurprisingly, the estate has been used as a set for everything from Terry Gilliam’s classic 1984 film ‘Brazil’ to ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.’

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The fact that the residents of this strange suburb are almost all elderly reinforces the somewhat dystopian feel, especially when they’re photographed under vast concrete archways in this compelling photographic series by Laurent Kronental. Their humanity and the warmth and personality of their interior spaces contrast against the coldness of the architecture.

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Entitled ‘Souvenir d’un Futur,’ the series is the result of four years of visits. According to his artist statement, Kronental “felt a need to examine their living conditions and shed light over a sometimes-neglected generation. Exposing these unsung and underestimated suburban areas is a means to reveal the poetry of aging environments slowly vanishing, and with them, the memory of modernist utopia.”

[ By Steph in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Wearable Architecture: 29 Structural Silhouettes in Fashion

12 Nov

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Textiles take the place of building materials in the dramatic swooping shapes, angular folds and oversized proportions of architecturally influenced fashion, whether on a highly wearable backpack or impractical runway couture. Fashion designers play with grids, tessellation, towering shapes, baroque details and three-dimensional forms, often making use of technology like 3D printing for unexpected results.

Baroque Architecture Backpacks by Konstantin Kofta

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Designer Konstantin Kofta presents ‘arcs,’ a series of backpacks taking their shapes from baroque architectural elements like column caps and flourishes. Made of leather, the stone-gray accessories have a realistic appearance. “Natural forms and curves are applicable to human architecture,” says Kofta. “Baroque architecture inspiration – where regular designs give way to curves, dramatic shapes and decoration – was transferred to sculptural leather Kofta pieces to evoke sensual delight.”

Airplane Dress by Hussein Chalayan

Gleaming white with semi-detached panels lifting up beneath a layer of tulle, Hussein Chalayan’s Airplane Dress is made of the same material used in aircraft construction and changes shape via remote control.

Spectacular Bridge-Like Creations by Winde Rienstra

RIENSTRA

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Amsterdam-based fashion designer Winde Rienstra explores structure and space with her 11:11 collection, blurring the lines between clothing and objects. Stiff as corsetry and creating a sort of cage around the body, the ribbed, angled pieces call to mind suspension bridges and the flying buttresses of Gothic cathedrals.

Iris Van Herpen’s 3D Printed Fashion Revolution

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An innovator in the usage of 3D printing in fashion, Iris van Herpen shakes up the status quo with exciting three-dimensional pieces of wearable sculpture characterized by rich texture and almost alien patterns that would be right at home in a sci-fi movie. Van Herpen’s creations bridge the gap between wearable technology and fashion, focusing more on the aesthetics of strange new textiles than on gadgets.

Architectural Camouflage by Snarkitecture

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Architecture and design duo Snarkitecture debuts ‘Architectural Camouflage,’ a collection of apparel and accessories featuring prints of white hex tile, subway tile and marble. Stand against the right urban surface, and you’ll blend right in. The pieces are available for purchase at Print All Over Me.

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Wearable Architecture 29 Structural Silhouettes In Fashion

[ By Steph in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Subway Angels: Painted Figures Spliced into Contemporary Cities

11 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

historic bored bus scene

Gods, angels, cherubs and human mortals from famous historical artworks can be found browsing the beverage display at the corner store, passed out in front of the liquor shop, or riding the bus with an aptly bored expression in these clever remixes.

historic shopping corner store

historical attack subway setting

In his ongoing series Art History in Contemporary Life, Ukrainian artist Alexey Kondakov continues to document a fictional world in which ancient figures find themselves transplanted into modern cityscapes.

subway nude

historic mother child lamb

historical drunk liquor store

Among his hacks: Cesar van Everdingen’s Bacchus, Caravaggio’s David and Goliath and William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s Nymphs and Satyr, all hacked to fit into new times and places.

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historical streetscape sidewalk scene

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The scenes are so expertly edited it is left to the figures themselves to stand out from each setting through their actions or attire. Madonna, child and lamb are, for instance, a bit of a strange find in an old apartment staircase and cherubs generally aren’t seen on the Earthly plane, at least by ordinary people.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Muji Huts: 3 Minimalist Prefab Dwellings Starting at $25,000

11 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

muji wood hut

Three designers contributing to the Muji Hut project have pitched their tent-, cottage- and cabin-inspired ideas for tiny retreats at Tokyo Design Week, each structure borrowing lessons in simplicity from Japanese housing traditions. The spaces are intentionally essential, featuring just what one needs to relax and enjoy natural surroundings and family gatherings.

muji hut glass

The Wooden Hut by Naoto Fukasawa is both open and cozy, with floor-to-ceiling windows, a soaking tub hidden behind a wall and a wood-burning stove to warm the interior. A wood-burning stove heats the interior, which is furnished with a cot, dining table and chairs, and kitchenette.

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“When I hear the word hut, I’m attracted,” says designer Naoto Fukasawa. It’s not quite a villa but not as simple as a tent. With a small hut you can burrow into the wilderness whenever you want.”

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The Cork Hut by Jasper Morrison has space for cooking, eating, gathering and sleeping, featuring a trim aesthetic with simple lines brought to life by variegated cork surfaces.

muji living room

“Whenever I think about going to the country for the weekend, I start imagining a small house with everything needed for a short stay,” says Jasper Morrison.

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“The dream usually collapses when I think of the complexity of building a new house, but with this project I realized there was a chance to design such a house as a product rather than a one-off.”

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The Aluminum Hut by Konstantin Grcic has a small footprint to avoid the need for building permits. A ladder leads occupants up to sleeping lofts while flexible aluminum awnings protect it in transit.

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“The hut is just a space — it doesn’t have to be a fully functioning place for living,” says Grcic.

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“There doesn’t have to be water or electricity. It is just a space for doing something.” The trio of huts will go on sale soon, starting at approximately $ 25,000 USD.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Zig-Zagging Wooden Stairway Leads to Book-Shaped Building

10 Nov

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

book building 1

Shaped like a book, a cultural facility on the boundary between a residential neighborhood and industrial area in a suburb of Incheon, South Korea acts as a smooth visual segue-way. Placed on a narrow site, the concrete structure measures just four meters wide and features an eye-catching zig-zagging wooden staircase leading from the ground floor to the first level.

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The building acts as a visual landmark for a town that lost its identity, a feeling the architects at Studio Gaon liken to an old man without fingerprints. The town of Gajwa-dong was once a fishing village positioned on the edge of the sea, but land reclamation projects re-routed the water. Views of the waves have now turned into bustling highways and unremarkable factory buildings.

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The owner of a 400-year-old house next door donated the oddly-shaped plot to the community after discovering that what he thought was his neighbor’s land was actually his own, with the request that the new structure act as a screen between his home and the industrial buildings next door.

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The resulting Sinjinmal building feels calm and solid with its cast-concrete walls bearing wood grain textures and expanses of glazing flooding the interiors with light. The zig-zag stairs outside reference those of a historic South Korean pavilion, while the interior stairs are painted bright red “suggesting past time, present, and future alterations.” A full-height, full-width glass door on the second floor seminar room pivots open to a terrace with the help of a manual winch.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Timber Transformations: 13 Space-Expanding Wood Interior Inserts

10 Nov

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

wood built ins main

Customized to each particular interior, these wooden built-ins add lofted bedrooms, closet space, bookshelves, reading nooks, hidden laundry rooms and elevated workspaces in incredibly compact packages. Often performing like massively oversized furniture, custom timber creations can help make tiny apartments livable, taking full advantage of vertical space.

Bookcase Loft

A loft living room gets the addition of a library-style bookcase, closet, lofted wardrobe space, stairs and a small bedroom. Made of heartwood pine, the box insert measuring 16x17x10 takes full advantage of the ceiling height in the space.

Cabin in a Brooklyn Loft

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A loft in Brooklyn gets a fun and functional new bedroom space reminiscent of a rustic cabin in the woods, creating a private room that also adds architectural interest to the space.

Garage to Studio Transformation

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A garage in Moscow is now a studio space for an architecture student thanks to the addition of a bunch of built-in wooden elements, including a grid shelving system, work desk, sofa and suspended loft bed.

Sculptural Laser-Cut Shelving

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Far more visually interesting than the average bookcase, this laser-cut built-in wall of shelves continues onto the ceiling in a single flowing form to become a sculptural focal point.

Multi-Level Artist Retreat

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This artist-in-residence project at department store de Bijenkorf in Amsterdam fills the uniquely tall space of a historic tower with a beautiful series of stacked rooms decked out with cabinets, tables and bed platforms.

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Timber Transformations 13 Space Expanding Wood Interior Inserts

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Story Dispensers: Street Printers Vend Free Short Stories

09 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

short story dispenser

If your mobile device runs out of batteries on the streets of Grenoble, simply find one of these machines, specify a desired duration, and receive a free printed short story to read in a park or on a train.

short edition machine

Deployed by the publishers of Short Édition, these automated kiosks are online 24 hours a day with a selection of 600 short stories, works selected by a community of over 140,000 subscribers. Would-be readers are directed to select the length of story they wish to read, then wait a few moments while the tale is printed.

pick length

No one is suggesting we stop traveling with our cell phones on hand, but for people who need a break from the screen or desire some alternative entertainment, this provides another option. The project creates not just printed stories but focal points for urban interaction, changing the way we think about and connect with cities and one another.

short story machine

That said, the ‘stories’ component is still a critical component of this civic intervention: “Stories are an important part of our life. We need them to construct who we are as individuals. More and more people don’t take the time anymore to sit and read a book. This is a way to have a little ‘bite’ of a story, just for a couple of minutes.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Sick Transit: The World’s Germiest Tourist Attractions

09 Nov

[ By Steve in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Caught the travel bug? Visit the world’s 10 filthiest, germiest tourist attractions and you could catch much, much more than you bargained for!

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The famous red wine bath at the Kowakien Yunessun hot springs spa resort and water amusement park in Hakone, Japan gives the term “drinking problem” a whole new meaning. On the bright side, alcohol has antiseptic properties.

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Sure it’s easy to resist drinking bathwater tainted by dozens of strangers but when the water’s been turned into wine, you’d better just hold your nose and pray for your health.

Blarney Stone, Ireland

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No visit to Ireland would be complete without kissing the Blarney Stone; just ask the roughly 400,000 people who visit Blarney Castle in Cork each year to do just that. Take into account several centuries of tradition and you’ve got a pretty good chance of picking up much more than the gift of gab.

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Kudos to Flickr users colinfinkle2, Mark Folse, and Becky Lane (romplane) for striking a blow for – or maybe against – germophobes worldwide.

Market Theater Gum Wall, Seattle

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So it seems the gross & grotty Gum Wall under Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle is to be steam cleaned and scrubbed free of used chewing gum – the first time in 20 years this dirtiest of dirty jobs is to be done. Where’s Mike Rowe when you need him?

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The cleaning wasn’t prompted by public health issues, however, as according to the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority the sugars in the gum are beginning to erode the bricks! Once the walls are clean, visitors are encouraged to pick up where they left off.

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Sick Transit The Worlds Germiest Tourist Attractions

[ By Steve in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Magnetic Notebook: Add, Remove & Reorganize All Kinds of Pages

08 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

magnetic-notebook-design

Like a combination classic journal and digital text file, this physical notebook has a magnetic spine that allows you to pull out pages without ripping and add in fresh blank, lined or graph sheets as well.

magnetic paper types

Dubbed Rekonect, the product is designed to look like a traditional notebook with an elastic cover band, but comes with a variety of page types for sketching, writing, graphing or alternating between activities.

magnetic pen page holder

magnetic notebook

Book binding is left to the magnetic spine, which also doubles as a de facto pen or mechanical pencil holder (as long as your writing or drawing device contains some metal for the magnet to grab).

magnetic print to go

The project was inspired in part by the versatility of computer files and types, recognizing our increased assumption of flexibility when it comes to creative pursuits in the digital age. Printed pages can also be slotted into the book, letting you mix and match hand- and computer-based creations.

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

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Blarney Stone, Ireland

Market Theater Gum Wall, Seattle

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