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Cut It Art! Paper Cut-Outs Cut Landmarks Down To Size

02 Nov

[ By Steve in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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An imaginative Instagram user’s unique way of capturing the world’s most famous landmarks for posterity involves a scissors, paper and a camera.

Instagrammer transforms famous landmarks using paper cut-outs

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“I take photos with paper & sometimes without”, states Instagram user @paperboyo, but it’s safe to say those “with paper” have garnered him most of his nearly 70,000 followers. London-based Rich McCor (to use his given name) came up with his intriguing take on travel photography while brainstorming on how to make his photos more original and memorable.

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Changing his POV was McCor’s number one priority. “I decided I would become a tourist in my own city,” he explained. “I wanted to see the London that I ignored, to explore the landmarks and the quirky history.” His first efforts depicted Big Ben transformed into a wristwatch (or vice-versa) and some graphic teasing of a lion outside St. Paul’s Cathedral. Nice kitty!

Instagrammer transforms famous landmarks using paper cut-outs

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Positioning the various paper cut-outs takes much precision and no doubt McCor attracts a certain amount of attention during the process. No doubt there’s a certain degree of trail-and-error as well: what works well in one’s imagination doesn’t always pan out in reality. When everything goes right, well, that’s just the cherry on the sundae!

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Cut It Art Paper Cut Outs Cut Landmarks Down To Size

[ By Steve in Art & Photography & Video. ]

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Phonetikana: Embedding English into Japanese Characters

01 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Graphics & Branding. ]

phonetikana phonetic japanese alphabet

Nothing gets lost in translation with these embedded English pronunciations, tied directly into the Japanese typographic style Katakana. While the letterforms of Katakana create an effectively phonetic alphabet, its characters are still difficult for some foreigners to read, at least until now.

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Like many design solutions, this one looks easy in retrospect: simply tuck an English-legible phonetic articulation guide using a capped alphabet inside the Japanese characters. The result: Phonetikana, a potentially very powerful tool for communication, teaching and learning, or even signage in places like international airports or multinational conventions.

From the creators: “Multiple trips to Japan and constant frustration at being unable to read the language has sparked off an unusual typographic project at johnson banks. Earlier in the year we started seeing if we could combine the English language and Japanese script in some way.”

The firm went a step further as well, embedding words and phrases inside symbols to create a children-legible introductory guide to Japanese, reinforcing connections between each sound and symbol set. Meanwhile, the hybrid typography remains a work in progress, but definitely on the right linguistic track.

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Graphics & Branding. ]

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Beach Read: Monumental Concrete Library on the Edge of a Bay

31 Oct

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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If you’ve ever gotten bored with the book you’re reading on the beach and wished you could just run into a seaside library for a new one, here’s the building of your dreams: a stunning modern repository of books so close to the sea, it’s practically on the water. Vector Architects positioned this monumental concrete structure right on the edge of China’s Bohai Bay, about three hours from Beijing, with massive glass doors opening the reading space right onto the sand.

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Oriented to direct nearly all of its views to the water, the library feels strong and solid, anchored to the sand. Of course, it’s hard not to worry about all of those books being ruined in the event of a severe storm. It’s not clear whether the architects have taken any particular precautions against potential disasters, but it certainly looks like a beautiful place to sit and read, especially when the lower doors are all open to the breezes coming off the water.

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Steel roof trusses support the massive canopy roof, which curves down into the wall at the rear of the building. Upper-level benches and tables look out a strip of fixed windows, and a stairway leads to a small rooftop patio. In contrast, a meditation room is insulated from the rest of the space, the only windows a handful of skylights carefully directing natural light.

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The building feels like a real-life version of a series of storm-proof fantasy beach structures by Dionisio Gonzalez – architecture with the heft and wherewithal to stand up to the elements when other buildings would be swept away.

[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Animating Tattoos: Colored Ink Mapping Brings Body Art to Life

30 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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The world’s first live tattoo projection mapping event turned tattoos from static works into performance art, creating dazzling animations from inked body artworks.

Filmed in Lisbon by Oskar & Gaspar, the above video highlights the infinite possibilities of this approach, from filling in details and colors to completing partial tattoos or even animating them in living color.

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Like the future tattoos from William Gibson’s book The Peripheral, the result can seem like organic behavior, with faces coming to life and snakes slithering across a body’s surface.

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Remarkably, the entire film was made without any post-production – what you see as the viewer of the short film above is exactly what the audience saw on the day of the event. We still may be a ways away from embedded nanobot tattoos, but when we get there, this will be an excellent source of inspiration for the tattoo artists of the future.

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Drawing & Digital. ]

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Neolithic Modernism: History Museum Appears Carved from Stone

30 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

cave museum

A bold break from traditional closed-box museums, this gorgeous open Museum of Indigenous Knowledge design is as much an interactive rock-hewn landscape as a work of contemporary architecture.

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Kengo Kuma & Associates of Japan are the team behind this stoney structure slated for construction in Manila and designed to showcase Philippine history starting in the Neolithic period, known for its huge stoneworks.

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Populated with tropical plants, waterfalls and pools, the carved-out center of the structure is made to feel both organic and inviting, encouraging visitors to climb up, wander and explore their environs.

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The building is meant to stand out in contrast not only to more minimalist and austere museums but the surrounding urban environment as well, providing relief from the relentless urban cityscape on all sites.

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Restaurants and shops are located along the artificial ravine toward the base of the building, meant to be accessible independently but also a gateway to the galleries and exhibition spaces on the floors above.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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Floating Forest: Trees Rise From Corpse of Abandoned Ship

29 Oct

[ By Steph in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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Rusted and half-sunken yet still somehow afloat on the waters of Sydney’s Homebush Bay, the remains of a century-old ship have become fertile ground for a thriving forest. Located on the south bank of the Parramatta River on the inner west side of the city, the bay was a hub for industrial activity in the mid-20th century and became a dumping ground for unwanted materials of all kinds, from busted ships to toxic waste.

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The bay was ultimately rehabilitated, but many of the ships remain, lurking among a tangle of mangrove trees. Among them is the SS Ayrfield, which the mangroves clearly found quite hospitable, transforming it into a sort of artificial floating island. In its former life, the Ayrfield was used to transport supplies to American troops stationed in the Pacific during World War II before operating as a collier. It was sent to Homebush for disposal in 1972 after sixty years of service.

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Awash in brilliant hues of red and orange, the hull of the 1,140-ton SS Ayrfield pokes up from the surface of the water, the Sydney skyline looming in the distance. Other ghostly ships in the bay include the steam tugboat SS Heroic and the steel boom defense vessel HMAS Karangi, which helped defend Darwin Harbour from Japanese attack in 1942.

Photos: Jason Baker, gerryligon, rodney campbell / Flickr Creative Commons

[ By Steph in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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The Language of Death: 15 Gravestone Symbols Explained

29 Oct

[ By Steph in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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The symbols carved into stones commemorating the dead can reveal a lot about the deceased’s beliefs and philosophies, or at least those attributed to them by their families when they were buried. Grave symbolism ranges from well-known symbols of major religions to the arcane and complex, each one often containing layer after layer of hidden meaning known only to those initiated into certain organizations. These 15 common symbols seen in cemeteries around the world are often meant to relay messages to those who are still living.

Winged Skull

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(images via: jenn g, xlibber)

The winged skull most often means a dead person’s journey is not over; after they’ve shed their physical form, they are flying away to another realm. In the United States, the ‘death’s head’ was initially a non-religious symbol simply used to denote a buried corpse, as the Puritans didn’t believe in using religious symbols on graves. The particular style of the death’s head motif on older graves acted as a calling card for the carver.

Serpent

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(images via: henning muhlinghaus, chynna67)

The serpent represents everlasting life, especially when seen in ‘ouroboros’ form, when it creates the shape of a circle with its own tail in its mouth. The snake cheats death by shedding its skin. The Orphic Egg (a snake wrapped around an egg) is an occult symbol representing the personification of light, the hermaphroditic Greek deity Phanes/Protogonus, who created the other gods. Two snakes wrapped around a winged staff (aka the caduceus) similarly represents the hermaphroditic god Hermes and has been incorrectly used by the healthcare industry as a symbol for medicine – mistaken for the rod of asclepius, which has only one snake and isn’t winged. The latter is often seen on graves of doctors. A snake wrapped around a cross can symbolize the Masonic brazen serpent, a symbol of the 25th Degree Masons, or foreshadowing of Christ’s crucifixion.

Clasping Hands

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(image via: RPM)

A loved one may be gone, but those they left behind often have hopes of seeing them again someday, as represented by clasping hands on a grave. Symbolizing unity even after death, it’s often depicted on the shared graves of spouses.

Flying Hourglass

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(image via: sean, todd mecklem)

‘Time flies’ and death comes too soon for many, as symbolized by an hourglass with wings. In the early 18th century, it wasn’t unusual for the dead to be buried with an actual hourglass to represent the sands of time having run out. In Masonic symbolism, it’s often paired with the scythe, another emblem of how easy it is to sever the boundary between life and death.

Inverted Torch

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(images via: jpmatth, godutchbaby)

Inverting a torch would typically extinguish the flame, so when it’s seen on graves with the flames still burning, it represents eternal life.

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The Language Of Death 15 Gravestone Symbols Explained

[ By Steph in Culture & History & Travel. ]

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Doom & Bloom: 36,000 Flowers Adorn Condemned Detroit Duplex

28 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

florist abandoned house project

Bought at auction by a florist last year, this dilapidated multifamily home was destined to be demolished but given a last chance to blossom thanks to a team of florists and array of volunteers packing the place inside and out with a flowers.

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Deserted houses in Detroit are famously sold for as little as a dollar by the city, giving florist Lisa Waud (photos by Heather Saunders) an idea.

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She purchased this place for just $ 250 at auction, then turned a trash-filled abandonment into a work of art as well as a fundraiser for a flower farm and design center on the site.

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The Flower House was given over to contributing florists, each encouraged to turn a space, wall or ceiling into a blank canvas for their creations. The results are remarkable.

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Following the project, “the house that held the exhibition will be responsibly deconstructed and its materials repurposed. the land will be converted into a flower farm and design center on their formerly neglected properties.”

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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Plug & Play Homes: Mobile Modules Slot into Urban Frameworks

28 Oct

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

kasita slot box homes

Coming to Austin next year, this mobile housing strategy takes portable living out of trailer parks, plugging you straight into the city grid and allowing you to easily hop metropolises on demand (at the tap of an app). Denver, Portland, Brooklyn, Stockholm, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles and Manhattan are also on the list.

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Kasita has created a system of prefabricated units that pack hideaway furniture but also a full kitchen, washer and dryer into a 208-square-foot living space. The real trick, though, is in the supporting framework – a grid-like structure into (and out of) which these units slot.

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More than just a wrapper for a box, these allow external elements like staircases for circulation, patios and decks to remain in place while the core modules move around.

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Initial deployment will take place in Austin, Texas, and the units will cost $ 600 a month, but as they roll out in other cities, the project will take on an additional dimension. Eventually, users will be able to swap into new slots in other cities on short notice and without packing a thing.

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A collaboration between Professor Jeff Wilson, a teacher already famous for living in a tiny dumpster for a year, and Frog, an industrial design firm, this project was inspired as much by the sleek simplicity of the iPhone as it was by other container-type home projects.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Houses & Residential. ]

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Ruins to Art: Timber Addition Transforms Abandoned Building

27 Oct

[ By Steph in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

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An abandoned traditional building on the coast of Madalena, Portugal has come back to life with a sculptural wooden extension that emerges from the back like a living organism. Cella Bar by FCC Arquitectura and Paulo Lobo leaves the original structure intact, merging the vernacular architecture with a wholly modern aesthetic in pale curving timber.

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Missing elements of the abandoned building, like the doors and windows, were restored to make it look just as it did when it was first built, minus the charming weathering on the stones. The interiors were transformed to suit the building’s new purpose as a restaurant, the wooden floors flowing out the rear doors, onto the original terrace and continuing onto the roof of the addition.

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“The new extension is a contemporary creation, exposed to a completely different language,” say the architects. “It is an organic, dynamic construction that contrasts with the orthogonal, classic language of the building where it is embedded. The design is defined by great plasticity, both in terms of forms and materials, and is markedly inspired by the natural environment around the site. Several features of that environment are present in the architecture of the building, including the outline of the island, rocks, whales and wine casks. The new volume acts like a giant sculpture, tailored for its location.”

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Archive for the ‘Creativity’ Category

Cut It Art! Paper Cut-Outs Cut Landmarks Down To Size

Next Page – Click Below to Read More:
Cut It Art Paper Cut Outs Cut Landmarks Down To Size

Phonetikana: Embedding English into Japanese Characters

Beach Read: Monumental Concrete Library on the Edge of a Bay

Animating Tattoos: Colored Ink Mapping Brings Body Art to Life

Neolithic Modernism: History Museum Appears Carved from Stone

Floating Forest: Trees Rise From Corpse of Abandoned Ship