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Drawing with Wire: Scribbled Sculptures Make Sketches 3D

07 Nov

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Scribbled sketches seem to leap off the page and hover in mid-air, filling out in three dimensions, in this impressive series of sculptures made from bent wire. Artist David Oliveira captures the essence of his subjects, whether they’re people or mountain lions, by studying their anatomy and translating their sense of vitality and movement into minimalist life-sized forms.

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Oliveira sees his works as existing on some other plane, like an abstracted echo of the physical bodies that exist in our reality. Twisting, looping and curving black wires, he sketches in air, and the resulting sculptures look as if they’ve been peeled off a piece of paper, enlarged and skewed like skeletons that were hidden inside each subject all along.

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As viewers, we look at these gestural impressions of living creatures and our minds fill in the blanks, suggesting to us what the real-life subjects must have looked like, how they must have moved. The sculptures are particularly effective when they’re hung from the ceiling in transparent thread, seeming to float.

[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]

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Fortified Farms: In the Svanti Mountains Every Home is a Castle

06 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

georgia castle homes

Facing threats from all sides, the Svans of Georgia became highland gatekeepers of their mountain passes, each distributed dwelling turned into a individually defensible structure.

georgia defensible mountain homes

georgia sveti farm estate

Spread out across mountainous terrain difficult to encompass with conventional fortifications, many of these ruggedized farmhouses date back over 1,000 years. Some more expansive estates are surrounded by walls with a central tower, while in other more modest homes towers simply jut up from the core structures.

georgia mountains landscape

georgia world heritage site

The history of the Sveti region, with its distinct culture and language, was shaped by strife. “Life was never easy in high Caucasus. Nomads from northern steppes eager to get their hands on the riches of Mesopotamia, and Empires battling for supremacy — Assyrians, Macedonians, Persians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols — all clashed with fearless locals. The list of invading armies is nearly endless.”

georgia fortified farm towers

As a result of these pressing threats, houses were built to withstand invading (or passing) forces, protecting people, farm animals and other valuables. Rather than retreating behind walls or to a central keep, war-weary residents would simply bar their autonomous semi-castles. Today, many of the distinctive towers that mark the area are still incorporated into the everyday lives of inhabitants. The hundreds of towers that still remain to this day are now protected as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photos via Wikimedia and by Susan, deguonis, jan-one and Martijn.Munneke.

[ By WebUrbanist in Destinations & Sights & Travel. ]

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Liquid Stop Sign: Emergency Laser Projection on Sheet of Water

06 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Graphics & Branding. ]

stopcropped

Serving as a bright and bold last-chance warning for vehicles about to enter tunnels, this wall of water painted turns into a kind of hovering hologram designed to STOP impending drivers from creating or compounding tunnel disaster situations.

emergency stop lighting

Dubbed Softstop and deployed first in Australia, the liquid signage does no damage should a car or truck pass through, but still provides an impossible-to-ignore signal for drivers. It is used to warn off too-tall trucks and deter Sydney Harbor Tunnel entry in cases of fires or crashes going on inside the tunnel.

stop sign photo

liquid stop sign

This solution came about after conventional signage failed to warn off drivers in an emergency. “We had a fire in the tunnel,” explains Harbor Tunnel GM Bob Allen, “motorists ignored the warning lights and signs and continued driving towards the fire. These drivers exposed themselves to smoke and toxic fumes from the fire and then to compound the situation they turned around (in a one way tunnel) and drove back out of the tunnel against incoming traffic.”

floating stop sign

stop signage

The wall-of-water solution came about as a collaboration between Laservision, a creative technology firm that designs architectural lighting, and a pump manufacturer: Grundfos.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Graphics & Branding. ]

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Your Own Slice of Sky: Pop-Out Windows for Urban Apartments

05 Nov

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Few city dwellers are lucky enough to have an outdoor space to call their own, but this pop-out window design offers a view of the sky, even if your window looks directly onto another building. Argentinian architect and Pratt Institute student Aldana Ferrer Garcia debuted her thesis project ‘More Sky’ at the inaugural Dubai Design Week, rethinking the limits of standard urban housing.

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Designed to fit within Brooklyn’s building rules and regulations, ‘More Sky’ is a replacement window system that can extend into the outdoors with an accordion-like action. The window comes in three styles: casement niche, awning niche and hopper niche, providing various opening angles and degrees of expansion.

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The ‘casement niche’ is a pivoting window seat that lets you safely hang out the window, providing panoramic views. Bring a blanket and a small pillow, and you’ve got the perfect cozy nook for reading or enjoying a cup of coffee.

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The ‘hopper niche’ angles straight out, and is strong enough to support a person lounging inside. This angle gives you views of the sky, ideal for apartments that overlook narrow alleyways. The third design, ‘awning niche,’ is an ideal spot for indoor plants that require a lot of sunlight, like herbs.

[ By Steph in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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Classic Art in a Modern World: 35 Masterpieces Reimagined

05 Nov

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Masterpieces from Greek antiquity through the nineteenth century are literally seen through a modern lens, remade into action figures or inserted into contemporary settings, in this collection of remixed classic art.From auto mechanics styled and posed like Caravaggio subjects to storm troopers as Flemish upperclassmen, these projects bring centuries-old aesthetics into the 21st century.

Auto Mechanics in Renaissance-Style Portraits by Freddy Fabris

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Inspiration struck when photographer Freddy Fabris accompanied a friend into a cluttered auto shop, the mechanics and their tools seeming like the perfect subjects for Rembrandt and Renaissance-style portraits. The award-winning series mimics such masterpieces as Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper and Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam.

Classic Statue Action Figures

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David, The Thinker and Venus de Milo come to life in the form of posable action figures so you can see these classic statues like you’ve never seen them before. The pre-sale for most of these figures has already ended, but ‘David’ is still available for roughly $ 40.

Classic Art Figures in Contemporary Settings

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Angels and other subjects from classic paintings hang out in dive bars, subways and alleys in Alexey Kondakov’s series ‘Art History in Contemporary Life,’ including Hans Holbein’s ‘The Ambassadors’ and the otherworldly female figures of Bougereau.

Lego Tribute to Classic Art

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Iconic works by Magritte, Vermeer and Van Eyck get the Lego treatment in a fun photographic series by Marco Pece.

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Classic Art In A Modern World 35 Masterpieces Reimagined

[ By Steph in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Got Your Goat: Portable Drinking Horn Coffee Mug is Good to Go

04 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Its shape inspired by goats, the creatures that helped humans discovered coffee, this modern-day drinking horn is curved to make drinking easier and capped to let you take your java on the road.

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Designed by desnahemisfera in cooperation with Equa, the Goat Story drinking device comes equipped with a leather holder to act as a heat barrier while walking or a stand while sitting.

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The travel-ready cup also comes with a short and long leather carrying strap, which can also be combined to form an even longer version.

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goat mug travel

From its creators: “As easy as 1-2-3, your GOAT STORY coffee mug will be able to stand on your office desk and it will be at a hand´s reach all the time. Just take the handle off, turn it around, place the mug in it. Voila! The ergonomic shape will help you drink your coffee. Have we mentioned that it won’t fall over?”

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goat mug with holder

“It comes with a cross body strap, which lets you carry your business case in one hand while replying e-mails on your phone, in between sips. Also, you can use the shorter strap to attach it to your bag or carry it around your wrist and keep your hands free.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]

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Sunken Ruins of Alexandria to be World’s First Underwater Museum

04 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

sunken egypt underwater museum

The Ministry of Antiquities in Egypt is planning to turn submerged ruins of ancient Alexandria into an underwater museum, allowing tourists access to 2,500 of subsurface stonework dating back to 365 AD.

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Plans or this ambitious intervention, designed by French architect Jacques Rougerie, were put on hold for years during a period of regional turmoil, but are now back on track. Fiberglass tunnels will connect waterfront galleries to underwater viewing areas where visitors can see the ruins in context.

The 270,000 square foot area in Alexandria Bay is protected by the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and includes the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. Much of the area was submerged in the Middle Ages due to earthquakes.

underwater museum

Part of the purpose of the project is to further protect the ruins, which are prominent targets for thieves and difficult to police without permanent surrounding infrastructure and round-the-lock eyes on the site. “The museum will reshape the Arab region, as it will be the first of its kind in the world,” said Youssef Khalifa, chair of the Central Administration of Lower Egypt Antiquities. “Undoubtedly it will revive tourism and boost the Egyptian economy after a long recession.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Blooming Street Lights: Giant Flowers Interact with the City

03 Nov

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

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Step beneath these massive red flowers in Jerusalem’s Vallero Square and they’ll bloom before your eyes, offering light after dark and shelter from the rain. The interactive installation by HQ Architects reacts to pedestrians and traffic, their crimson textile petals filling with air when motion is sensed nearby.

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Standing 30 feet tall in two pairs on opposite ends of the square, the flowers can be seen from afar, providing an eye-catching visual for visitors to a busy nearby market. In addition to functioning as public art and street lights, the flowers provide cover to commuters getting on and off the tram.

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When the square is full of action, the flowers billow, creating a sense of movement. They go still when all is quiet late at night, their petals closing. An air compressor is built into the top of each one. Named the ‘Warde Project,’ the installation is part of an effort to revitalize a square that felt a little shabby. [Photos by Dor Kedmi]

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

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Ugly Architecture: 15 of the World’s Most Hideous Buildings

02 Nov

[ By Steph in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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Some buildings are so ugly, the only thing that could possibly improve them is a wrecking ball. It’s even worse when the structures are high-profile and expensive, making you wonder how many people who had to sign off at each stage of planning and construction actually thought to themselves, “Yes, this looks good.” Here are 15 examples of astonishingly ugly architecture that only a mother (or rather, the designers responsible) could love.

The Rock, Wellington International Airport, New Zealand

Perhaps this addition to the Wellington International Airport by Warren and Mahoney was designed to resemble a robotic cockroach in order to remind us of what will rise up and take our places on earth once we’ve succeeded in making ourselves extinct.

Renmin Ribao Building, Beijing, China

Beijing’s ‘penis building’ aka the headquarters of the communist People’s Daily newspaper has drawn wonder and incredulity from local residents, as well as worldwide notoriety. But the building will soon be sheathed, as the architect decided to give it a makeover after all the backlash. There’s probably a joke about state-sponsored journalism in there somewhere.

Frank Gehry’s Australian Blunder

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“The building so ugly, it has to wear a paper bag” is Frank Gehry’s first project in Australia, inspired by a mashup of Sydney architecture and a treehouse. The curving structure was created using 320,000 custom-designed bricks.

ArcelorMittal Orbit Sculpture, London, England

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Famed artist Anish Kapoor teamed up with engineer Cecil Balmond to create a sky-high tower in London that looks like a tangle of junk you pulled out of a drawer in your garage. The ArcelorMittal Orbit is a 376-foot-tall sculptural observation point overlooking the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

The Elephant Building, Bangkok, Thailand

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Shaped like Thailand’s national animal, the Elephant Building in Bangkok is a 32-story mixed-use complex housing condos, offices and a language school.

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Ugly Architecture 15 Of The Worlds Most Hideous Buildings

[ By Steph in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

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New Spin: Rotating & Sliding Walls Turn 1-BR Apartment into 3

02 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

modular rotating wall home

A combination of walls on wheels and sliding wall panels make this modular home infinitely adaptable, able to transform from a spacious single-family abode to a series of divisible spaces for guests on demand.

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PKMN Architectures deployed this solution as part of their ongoing Little Big Houses initiative (Pequeñas Grandes Casas), a series of designs addressing usability in small spaces.

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rotating bedroom demand

This particular home in Mexico serves a couple but is also made to accommodate visits from extended family, able to support three bedrooms that can be added in less than a minute.

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rotating configuration floor plan

While there are intended ways of using the modular components, the real beauty of the system is in its versatility – hanging partitions and thicker structural-and-storage walls can be combined in all kinds of configurations.

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rotating partition system

From the architects: “María José y Enrique viven en México pero viajan mucho a Europa. Querían una segunda casa en Asturias que pudiera ser un apartamento para la pareja y para toda la familia al mismo tiempo. A través de unos muebles giratorios los dos dormitorios de la casa pueden aparecer y desaparecer en un minuto. La casa tiene así tres posiciones, una casa con dos dormitorios, con un dormitorio o sin ninguno de ellos. Así la vivienda se convierte en un lugar para celebrar una gran fiesta para los más pequeños o un espacio tipo loft cuando María José y Enrique están solos. Es el lujo de tener un salón de casi 50m2 en una casa de 70m2.”

360Photography

Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Drawing with Wire: Scribbled Sculptures Make Sketches 3D

Fortified Farms: In the Svanti Mountains Every Home is a Castle

Liquid Stop Sign: Emergency Laser Projection on Sheet of Water

Your Own Slice of Sky: Pop-Out Windows for Urban Apartments