Tag: Trains

Moving Performances: 50 Outdoor Mini-Plays Staged for Passing Trains

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Turning the local landscape into an outdoor theater set, hundreds of volunteers in Germany’s Saale Valley staged a series of live performances for the viewing pleasure of train passengers zipping by.

Spanning nearly 20 miles, the Bewegtes Land (or “Moving Land”) project featured a series of fast-moving vignette pieces designed to entertain and amuse, featuring things like a surprise (fake) lake shark and scampering.

Organized by media artists and Bauhaus professors Jörn Hintzer and Jacob Hüfner, the idea was to grab attention for just a few moments at a time (much like we are used to in today’s digital world). The action goes fast indeed, often unfolding in seconds.

Just a shark ?? #lookout #bewegtesland #artproject #artseenfromthetrain #stagethelandscape #todayandtomorrow #NaumburgJena #bauhausuniversi… pic.twitter.com/WDVFXZ19ic

— Site Specific Ideas (@StoriesOfBerlin) August 26, 2017

Across the rural area in which the performances played out, over 400 residents volunteered their time to take part, turning the enterprise into a community-building experience. It was also a nice way to put the place on the map.

#BestOf #BewegtesLand zwischen #Naumburg und #Jena. Dank an alle für die tolle Performance. @jenalichtstadt @DB_Bahn pic.twitter.com/nmVo3yRadB

— walsch (@mhenkenmeier) August 27, 2017

“For one thing, it’s a great weekend, but also people get to notice the beauty of the countryside,” a local mayor reported. “This is not a typical tourist area so maybe this will attract more people.”

Wheel House: Circular Hobo Home is a Rolling Circus Marvel

In this strange circus performance piece, two travelers turn architectural conventions on end, moving an offbeat nomadic home through a comedic narrative via carefully choreographic actions. A …

Clever Land Artist Copyrighted Earth to Beat an Oil Pipeline

Canadian land artist and sculptor Peter von Tiesenhausen occupies a stretch of land in Alberta covered with his artworks, but it was not until he turned the top six layers of the soil on his 800 …

Architectural Magic: Big Stone Building Breaks Free & Floats

A work of art, genius and incredible effort, half of this replica structure appears to hang in mid-air, seeming at once a perfect aesthetic fit for its surroundings and completely disconnected …

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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WebUrbanist

September 13, 2017
Reading Coaster: NYC Public Library Installs Tiny Book Delivery Trains

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

A crafty conveyor system helps bring up books from a series of research stacks and storage spaces hidden beneath Bryant Park, making the volumes accessible via a system of miniature trains.

This particular branch of the New York Public Library in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building houses millions of volumes, many of which are stored below the ground.

This book train system looks a bit like a tiny roller coaster and is used to transfer materials seamlessly, quickly and automatically along the vertical-and-horizontal track system, carrying requested books directly to places like the Rose Main Reading Room.

Each cart (of which there are 24) can hold 30 pounds of reading materials and can climb 11 stories within the building to service various floors.

A pivot joint between the book-carrying basket and the main body of the cart allows the former to remain upright without spilling its contents while the latter tilts up to 90 degrees, carrying books straight up between levels.

Big Free Library: Public Pavilion Built of 50,000 Stacked Books

Stacked books form the structural columns of this remarkable structure while support beams in between serve as shelves for even more volumes that can be borrowed, all scanned and donated by the …

Book City: Retail Space for Reading Mimics the Look of Urban Spaces

The appearance of the city outside – complete with crosswalks and grids resembling aerial views of urban blocks – acts as a transition space between the entrance of a bookstore and the quiet, …

Book Mountain: MVRDV Designs Glass Pyramid Library

Reading enthusiasts in Spijkenisse, the Netherlands can climb spiraling towers of terraced bookcases beneath a shimmering glass pyramid to find new printed treasures. Architecture firm MVRDV has …

[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Fixtures & Interiors. ]

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WebUrbanist

October 2, 2016
Modes of Transportation – 28 Images of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We photographers tend to have a fascination with a few different subjects including old cars and bicycles.

But what other modes of transport are there that we love to shoot? How many can you see here, and how have these photographers captured their essence, done them justice?

These first few images are mine:

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By Darlene Hildebrandt

By Darlene Hildebrandt

These are by other photographers:

By Giovanni Orlando

By Howard Ignatius

By Brent Pearson

By Timothy Neesam

By Staffan Scherz

By Garrett

By jimmy brown

By Peter Miller

By Gerry Balding

By Patrick Franzis

By Justin

By Konstantinos B

By amanda tipton

By Davide D’Amico

By Patrick Franzis

By jimmy brown

By michael kooiman

By Ryan Desiderio

By WickedVT

By madhan r

By Kev Haworth Photography

By Dennis Jarvis

By Caden Crawford

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The post Modes of Transportation – 28 Images of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 4, 2016
Tube Travelators: Replacing London Trains with Moving Walkways

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

A proposal by an international architecture firm would reduce travel time in the London Underground, not with faster rail cars but by using people movers of the kind generally found in airports. Closing the loop on questions of congestion, this strategy would stop trains in their tracks.

Aimed at the congested Circle Line looping through the heart of the city, the design from NBBJ Architects incorporates three parallel walkways moving at different speeds (up to a maximum of 15 miles per hour). That may sound slow until you consider that the top speed of the trains currently running these sections of Tube is around 20 MPH due to congestion.

Commuters and travelers would step from the slowest-moving walkway across to increasingly faster lanes, using the replacement paths to connect to work or other (generally faster) lines of the Underground. People walking down the fast lane could actually end up moving more quickly than a train. Others could potentially sit down along one side on fold-down seats (as with an escalator railing, these would speed along at the same pace as the track below).

While the odds of implementation are slim, the data is compelling – the system could accommodate more passengers than the current trains and would eliminate the frustration of waiting in queues. The Circle Line in particular is infamous for delays, with an average of 10 reported per day.

Christian Coop of NBBJ cites a challenge from think tank New London Architecture for the inspiration to create these strange proposal. If nothing else, it might be something to consider for the vast expanses of derelict underground rail space running through the city.

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The Under Line: Derelict London Tube Tunnels as Public Paths

Transforming unused sections of the London Underground, this bold proposal envisions a network of subterranean paths for pedestrians and cyclists as well …
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Non-Stop Rail: 2 Future Trains Pick Up Passengers in Motion

Saving time, energy and bridging the gap between high-speed rail and local-only service, these proposed solutions (each in their own unique way) let people …
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View Forward: Driverless London Train Cars Arriving in 2020

Called the New Tube, the next phase in London’s Underground system will feature partially and entirely automated cars, including ones that let passengers …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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WebUrbanist

September 9, 2015
Plains, trains and automobiles: The landscape photography of Bill Leigh Brewer

Bill Leigh Brewer’s career in photography started with a road trip, a Canon AE-1, lots of Kodachrome 25, and The Clash. His landscapes lend a surrealist quality to the commonplace and unique aspects of Americana, without demeaning its subjects. Take a look at his work and read our Q&A. See gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

July 5, 2015
Non-Stop Rail: 2 Future Trains Pick Up Passengers in Motion

[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

Saving time, energy and bridging the gap between high-speed rail and local-only service, these proposed solutions (each in their own unique way) let people board and disembark at their leisure while the main train speeds along. In on case, passengers wait inside an ancillary car that hooks into a passing bullet train – in the other, they step seamlessly across a dock when changing between slower and faster trains.

First, the overhead-car approach (illustrated above) from China, a country that has long been on the cutting-edge of record-fast rail travel, pioneering magnetic levitation trains and incredibly fast cross-country routes with few stops in between. One simply steps into the upper cabin and then walks down into the main train once the two sync up. A second approach, proposed by PriestmanGoode and shown below, involves synchronizing two trains alongside one another then allowing each to dock with the other in transit.

Aside from being more energy-efficient, a lot of other standard frustrations of train travel are rendered obsolete by one or both approaches, like queuing up, pushing and shoving for quick entrances and exits at the right stop (an issue you will know is serious if you have ever ridden Chinese trains or subways). In the case of Moving Platforms from PG, train transfers in general could be made faster and smoother without requiring stops along the way.

At this stage, the concepts look promising but some technical questions still need to be resolved, including whether using wheels makes the most sense (in the Chinese variant) and the speed reduction required on the part of the passing train to make the two meet smoothly (in either case). Both, however, address a huge pain point in transportation as well as energy efficiency: slowing, stopping and waiting for and between public transit rides. Eventually, one could imagine an omni-directional maglev system taking people directly from buildings to their trains without needing to stop or transfer along the way.

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5M SF of Sleek: World’s Largest Subterranean Rail Station

Set to open in 2015, the world’s largest underground train station connecting Hong Kong to the rest of China will measure a whopping 5 million square feet.
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Mad Locomotives: Steaming Hot Prototype & Concept Trains

These ambitious concept trains move beyond the dream of steam to a new world of locomotive power. Clear the track, the train is back!
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High-Speed Art: Murals Spray-Painted for Train Passengers

Made to been seen at high speeds, these colorful patterns intentionally form a sequential whole when experienced by commuters in adjacent railway cars. …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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WebUrbanist

January 16, 2015
Time-Traveling Trams: 30,000 LED Lights Vanish Street Trains

[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

Extended exposure photography combined with a unique art installation project creates an incredible time lapse illusion on the streets of Budapest, making train cars appear to disappear in a burst of light.

Started for Christmas 2009, this is a project of a regional transport company since captures by a number of intrepid photographers, each showing different speeds and resulting effects.

Via Colossal, this seasonal lighting is meant to attract tourists and additional riders, a decorative nod to the holidays as well as a moving work of photogenic art.

Images here were taken by Andras Csore, Victor Varga, Krisztian Birinyi, Krisztian Birinyi, Zsolt Andrasi English Hungary and the Centre for Budapest Transport.

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Infrastructural Art: Colorful LEDs Lights Up Shipyard Cranes

The imagination readily fastens onto the anthropomorphic figures like those found in shipyards, turning looming metal giants into huge toy beasts, origami …
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Subway Parasite: Stealth Projector Lights Up Train Tunnels

Here to lighten the mood a bit during the duller parts of your nighttime or subterranean transit is a quirky little projector that suctions to vehicular shells.
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Illuminating Inventions: 10 Twists to Simple Street Lights

Functional street lights tend to fade into the background for most of us, but these designers have creatively re-imagined the humble piece of urban furniture.
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[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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WebUrbanist

July 4, 2014
Talking Windows: Trains Deliver Ads Directly into Your Head

[ By Delana in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

Television, radio, the internet, billboards, newspapers, magazines, malls, supermarkets…wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, it’s highly likely that at least a few companies are trying to market their products to you every moment. A quiet train ride and a nice nap used to be a welcome escape from the cacophony of consumerism, but soon even your commute-time nap may be filled with the sounds of advertisements.

The German branch of ad company BBDO has tested a form of bone conduction technology on a train between Munich and North Rhine-Westphalia. When a commuters rest their heads against a window, hoping to catch a few winks before getting to their destination, ads which were previously inaudible suddenly begin playing inside their heads.

The technology works by using high-frequency transmitters to send sounds through the train’s windows. If you aren’t touching the window you can’t hear the ads at all. But lean your head against the window and the sounds are loud and clear, having been transmitted through your skull and directly to your inner ear. It’s the same concept that makes bone-conduction headphones and hearing aids work.

Although BBDO has no current plans to actually put the technology into use, the fact that it was tried out successfully may mean that this type of marketing will soon be used on a wider scale. We have a feeling commuters would object to the practice of advertisements invading their sleep, but if trains played relaxing music or important travel information in this manner it would be much easier to get behind the idea.

[ By Delana in Conceptual & Futuristic & Technology. ]

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WebUrbanist

October 26, 2013
Faux Facades: Fake Buildings Hide Trains, Power & More

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

When is a building not a building? When it is only a facade, (aka) dummy! You might have passed right by train tunnels, communications towers or even entirely empty buildings and never realized you were being duped – until now.

Underground Train Passage & Ventilation in Rowhouse

Consider units 23 & 24, Leinster Gardens in Paddington, London. When underground rail was routed through the neighborhood in the 1860s, the residences at those addresses were razed … and replaced with a very convincing facade. Behind it: an empty void for the old engines to vent along their route, and metal bracing to help hold up adjacent structures. Hoaxes played on this place include everything from the pizza-delivery redirect to a prankster selling tickets to a charity ball at the address.

Subway Emergency Exit & Energy Converter in Townhouse

One more urban ventilator before we move on: 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, New York follows a similar pattern to its British brethren – blacked-out windows are the only up-close giveaway to an otherwise-complete illusion of occupation, while the railway runs below. This faux building has had multiple subway-related purposes beyond ventilation, though, including electrical conversion and emergency egress.

Power Substations in Houses, Offices, Factories & Castles

Toronto has a century-long history of hiding its urban energy substations as all kinds of architecture, from small single-family homes to huge block-sized factory buildings, at addresses including 29 Nelson Street, 2833 Yonge Street & 640 Millwood Road. Some have caught fire in freak accidents – not something the neighbors like to worry about. Others have been decommissioned and converted to residential or commercial use, in a strange instance of life imitating the art of imitation.

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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WebUrbanist

February 19, 2013
Faux Facades: Fake Buildings Hide Trains, Power & More

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

When is a building not a building? When it is only a facade, (aka) dummy! You might have passed right by train tunnels, communications towers or even entirely empty buildings and never realized you were being duped – until now.

Underground Train Passage & Ventilation in Rowhouse

Consider units 23 & 24, Leinster Gardens in Paddington, London. When underground rail was routed through the neighborhood in the 1860s, the residences at those addresses were razed … and replaced with a very convincing facade. Behind it: an empty void for the old engines to vent along their route, and metal bracing to help hold up adjacent structures. Hoaxes played on this place include everything from the pizza-delivery redirect to a prankster selling tickets to a charity ball at the address.

Subway Emergency Exit & Energy Converter in Townhouse

One more urban ventilator before we move on: 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, New York follows a similar pattern to its British brethren – blacked-out windows are the only up-close giveaway to an otherwise-complete illusion of occupation, while the railway runs below. This faux building has had multiple subway-related purposes beyond ventilation, though, including electrical conversion and emergency egress.

Power Substations in Houses, Offices, Factories & Castles

Toronto has a century-long history of hiding its urban energy substations as all kinds of architecture, from small single-family homes to huge block-sized factory buildings, at addresses including 29 Nelson Street, 2833 Yonge Street & 640 Millwood Road. Some have caught fire in freak accidents – not something the neighbors like to worry about. Others have been decommissioned and converted to residential or commercial use, in a strange instance of life imitating the art of imitation.

Next Page:
Faux Facades Fake Buildings Hide Trains Power More

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City Camouflage: Ugly Public Buildings in Disguise

Scruffy 1970s public buildings like electricity substations virtually disappear into their environments when covered with photo prints and pixelated mosaics.
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[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]

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WebUrbanist

February 12, 2013